title: Crane fly

text: The larva is elongated, usually cylindrical. The posterior two-thirds of the head capsule is enclosed or retracted within the prothoracic segment. The larva is metapneustic (with only one pair of spiracles, these on the anal segment of the abdomen), but often with vestigial lateral spiracles (rarely apneustic). The head capsule is sclerotized anteriorly and deeply incised ventrally and often dorsolaterally. The mandibles are opposed and move in the horizontal or oblique plane. The abdominal segments have transverse creeping welts. The terminal segments of the abdomen are glabrous, often partially sclerotized and bearing posterior spiracles. The spiracular disc is usually surrounded by lobe-like projections and anal papillae or lobes.


title: Crane fly

text: The adult female usually contains mature eggs as she emerges from her pupa, and often mates immediately if a male is available. Males also search for females by walking or flying. Copulation takes a few minutes to hours and may be accomplished in flight. Adults have a lifespan of 10 to 15 days. The female immediately oviposits, usually in wet soil or mats of algae. Some lay eggs on the surface of a water body or in dry soils, and some reportedly simply drop them in flight. Most crane fly eggs are black in color. They often have a filament, which may help anchor the egg in wet or aquatic environments.


title: Crane fly

text: Crane fly larvae (leatherjackets) have been observed in many habitat types on dry land and in water, including marine, brackish, and fresh water. They are cylindrical in shape, but taper toward the front end, and the head capsule is often retracted into the thorax. The abdomen may be smooth, lined with hairs, or studded with projections or welt-like spots. Projections may occur around the spiracles. Larvae may eat algae, microflora, and living or decomposing plant matter, including wood. Some are predatory.


title: Crane fly

text: Larval habitats include all kinds of freshwater, semiaquatic environments. Some Tipulinae, including "Dolichopeza", are found in moist to wet cushions of mosses or liverworts. "Ctenophora" species are found in decaying wood or sodden logs. "Nephrotoma" and "Tipula" larvae are found in dry soils of pasturelands, lawns, and steppe. Tipulidae larvae are also found in rich organic earth and mud, in wet spots in woods where the humus is saturated, in leaf litter or mud, decaying plant materials, or fruits in various stages of putrefaction.


title: Crane fly

text: Larvae can be important in the soil ecosystem, because they process organic material and increase microbial activity. Larvae and adults are also valuable prey items for many animals, including insects, spiders, fish, amphibians, birds, and mammals.


title: Crane fly

text: Adult crane flies may be used for transport by aquatic species of the mite family Ascidae. This is known as phoresis.


title: Crane fly

text: The European crane fly, "Tipula paludosa" and the marsh crane fly "T. oleracea" are agricultural pests in Europe. Crane fly larvae of economic importance live in the top layers of soil where they feed on the roots, root hairs, crown, and sometimes the leaves of crops, stunting their growth or killing the plants. They are pests on a variety of commodities. Since the late 1900s, "T. paludosa" and "T. oleracea" have become invasive in the United States. The larvae have been observed on many crops, including vegetables, fruits, cereals, pasture, lawn grasses, and ornamental plants.


title: Crane fly

text: In 1935, Lord's Cricket Ground in London was among venues affected by leatherjackets. Several thousand were collected by ground staff and burned, because they caused bald patches on the pitch and the pitch took unaccustomed spin for much of the season.


title: Crane fly

text: The phylogenetic position of the Tipulidae remains uncertain. The classical viewpoint that they are an early branch of Diptera—perhaps (with the Trichoceridae) the sister group of all other Diptera—is giving way to modern views that they are more highly derived. This is thanks to evidence from molecular studies, which is consistent with the more derived larval characters similar to those of 'higher' Diptera. The Pediciidae and Tipulidae are sister groups (the "limoniids" are a paraphyletic clade). Specifically, Limoniinae has recently been treated by numerous authors at the rank of family, but subsequent phylogenetic analyses revealed that the remaining groups of tipulids render the group paraphyletic. The Cylindrotominae appear to be a relict group that was much better represented in the Tertiary. Tipulidae probably evolved from ancestors in the Upper Jurassic, the Architipulidae, and representatives of the Limoniinae are known from the Upper Triassic.


title: Crane fly

text: Numerous other common names have been applied to the crane fly. Many of the names are more or less regional in the U.S., including mosquito hawk, mosquito eater, gallinipper, and gollywhopper. They are also known as "daddy longlegs" in English-speaking countries outside of the U.S., not to be confused with the U.S. usages of "daddy long legs" that refer to either arachnids of the order Opiliones or the family Pholcidae. The larvae of crane flies are known commonly as leatherjackets.


title: Crane fly

text: They are also known as "Jenny long legs" in Scotland. In Ireland they are also known as "Skinny Philip", and as "Pilib an Gheataire" in Gaelic ("Gaeilge").


title: Crane fly

text: There is an enduring urban legend that crane flies are the most venomous insects in the world, but have no ability to administer the venom; this is not true. The myth likely arose due to their being confused with the cellar spider as they are also informally called "daddy longlegs", and although the arachnid does possess venom, it is not especially potent.


title: Crane fly

text: Despite widely held beliefs that adult crane flies (or "mosquito hawks") prey on mosquito populations, the adult crane fly is anatomically incapable of killing or consuming other insects. Although the adults of some species may feed on nectar, the adults of many species have such short lifespans that they do not eat at all.


title: Superman II

text: Superman II is a 1980 superhero film directed by Richard Lester and written by Mario Puzo and David and Leslie Newman from a story by Puzo based on the DC Comics character Superman. It is the second installment in the "Superman" film series and a sequel to "Superman" (1978). It stars Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Terence Stamp, Ned Beatty, Sarah Douglas, Margot Kidder, and Jack O'Halloran. The film was released in Australia and mainland Europe on December 4, 1980, and in other countries throughout 1981. Selected premiere engagements of "Superman II" were presented in Megasound, a high-impact surround sound system similar to Sensurround.


title: Superman II

text: In 1977, it was decided by producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind that they would film both "Superman" and its sequel simultaneously, with principal photography beginning in March 1977 and ending in October 1978. Tensions rose between original director Richard Donner and the producers in which a decision was made to stop filming the sequel, of which 75 percent had already been completed, and finish the first film. Following the release of "Superman" in December 1978, Donner was controversially fired as director, and was replaced by Lester. Several members of the cast and crew declined to return in the wake of Donner's firing. To be officially credited as the director, Lester re-shot most of the film in which principal photography resumed in September 1979 and ended in March 1980.


title: Superman II

text: The film received positive reviews from film critics who praised the performances from Reeve, Stamp and Hackman, the visual effects, and humor. It grossed $190 million against a production budget of $54 million, a box office success but less than its predecessor. A sequel, "Superman III", was released in June 1983, for which Lester returned as director.


title: Superman II

text: A director's cut of the film, restoring the original vision for the film under Donner's supervision, titled "", was released on November 28, 2006 in various home media formats.


title: Superman II

text: Before the destruction of Krypton, the criminals General Zod, Ursa and Non are sentenced to banishment into the Phantom Zone. Years later, the Phantom Zone is shattered near Earth by the shockwave of a hydrogen bomb, thrown from Earth by Superman. The three criminals are freed and find themselves with superpowers granted by the yellow light of the Sun. After landing on the moon and effortlessly killing a team of astronauts exploring there, they continue toward Earth with plans to conquer the planet.


title: Superman II

text: The "Daily Planet" sends journalist Clark Kent—whose secret identity is Superman—and his colleague Lois Lane to Niagara Falls. Lois suspects Clark and Superman are the same person after Clark is absent when Superman appears and saves a child who falls. Lois intentionally places herself in the falls, but Clark saves her without exposing himself. That night, Clark trips and his arm lands in a lit fireplace. When his hand is unscathed, Clark reveals he is indeed Superman. He takes her to his Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic, showing her the traces of his past stored within energy crystals. Superman declares his love for Lois and his wish to spend his life with her. After conferring with the artificial intelligence of his mother Lara, Superman removes his superpowers by exposing himself to red Kryptonian sunlight in a crystal chamber, becoming a mortal. Clark and Lois spend the night together, then leave the Fortress and return from the Arctic by automobile.


title: Superman II

text: Meanwhile, after becoming accustomed to Earth, Zod and his cohorts travel to the White House and force the President of the United States to surrender. Clark and Lois arrive at a diner, where a thug named Rocky sexually harasses Lois and beats up Clark. The fight is interrupted by an urgent news report where the President resigns his office to Zod. When the President pleads for Superman to save the Earth, General Zod demands that Superman come and "kneel before Zod!" Realizing he has made a horrible mistake, Clark returns to the Fortress to see if he can regain his powers.


title: Superman II

text: Lex Luthor escapes from prison with Eve Teschmacher's help, leaving his accomplice Otis behind. Luthor and Teschmacher infiltrate the Fortress of Solitude before Superman and Lois arrive, and Luthor learns of Superman's connection to Jor-El and General Zod. He finds Zod at the White House and tells him Superman is the son of Jor-El, their jailer, and offers to lead him to Superman in exchange for control of Australia. The three Kryptonians ally with Luthor and go to the offices of the "Daily Planet". Superman arrives, after having found the green crystal that restores his powers, and battles the three. Zod realizes Superman cares for the humans and takes advantage of this by threatening bystanders. Superman realizes the only way to stop Zod and the others is to lure them to the Fortress. Superman flies off, with Zod, Ursa, and Non in pursuit, kidnapping Lois and taking along Luthor. Upon arrival, Zod declares Luthor has outlived his usefulness and plans to kill both him and Superman. Superman tries to get Luthor to lure the three into the crystal chamber to depower them. However, Luthor, eager to get back in Zod's favor, reveals the chamber's secret to the villains. Zod forces Superman into the chamber and activates it. Afterwards, assuming him deprived of his powers, Zod tells Superman to kneel and kiss his hand; instead, Superman crushes Zod's hand and tosses him into a crevice. Luthor deduces that Superman reconfigured the chamber to expose the trio to red sunlight while Superman was protected from it. Non falls into another crevice when trying to fly over it, and Lois knocks Ursa into a third. Superman flies back to civilization, leaving Luthor behind and returning Lois home.


title: Superman II

text: At the "Daily Planet" the following day, Clark finds Lois upset about knowing his secret but not being able to be open about her true feelings. He kisses her, using his abilities to wipe her mind of the knowledge of her past few days. Later, Clark returns to the diner and gets revenge on Rocky. Superman restores the damage done by Zod, replacing the American flag atop the White House, and tells the President he will not abandon his duty again.


title: Superman II

text: According to the 2006 documentary "You Will Believe: The Cinematic Saga of Superman", Sarah Douglas was the only cast member to do extensive around-the-world press tours in support of the film and was one of the few actors who held a neutral point of view in the Donner–Lester controversy.


title: Superman II

text: Richard Donner briefly appears in a "walking cameo" in the film. In the sequence where the de-powered Clark and Lois are seen approaching the truck-stop diner by car, Donner appears walking "camera left" past the driver's side. He is wearing a light tan jacket and appears to be smoking a pipe. In his commentary for "Superman II", Ilya Salkind states that the inclusion of his cameo in that scene is proof that the Salkinds held no animosity towards Donner, because if there were, then surely they would have cut it out. Conversely, Donner has used his inclusion in the scene to debunk praise heaped on Lester around the release of the film where Lester took credit for the intense nature of the "bully" scene in the diner, pointing out that he (Donner) filmed the scene and not Lester.


title: Superman II

text: Principal photography for both "Superman" films began on March 28, 1977 at Pinewood Studios for the Krypton scenes, but by May 1977, production had run two weeks behind schedule. It was reported that Donner had developed tensions with Alexander and Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spengler concerning the escalating production budget and production schedule. Donner responded by claiming he was never given a budget.


title: Superman II

text: In July 1977, Richard Lester—who had previously directed "The Three Musketeers" (1973) and "The Four Musketeers" (1974) for the Salkinds—came on board the project as an uncredited associate producer and intermediary on "Superman" to mediate the relationship between Donner and the Salkinds, who were no longer on speaking terms. Prior to this, Lester had won a lawsuit against the Salkinds for money still owed to him from making the films, but the assets were held in legal entanglements in the Bahamas. The Salkinds then offered to compensate him if he would help on the "Superman" films, in which Lester became a second unit director where he and Donner formed an effective partnership.


title: Superman II

text: By October 1977, Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, and Valerie Perrine had completed their scenes as they were all under contract to finish both pictures. Nevertheless, with months left of filming, the Salkinds had halted filming "Superman II", of which Donner had shot 75 percent, to focus on finishing "Superman". During the pause in filming, the Salkinds agreed to a negative pickup deal with Warner Bros. Pictures, granting the studio rights to foreign distribution and television airings in exchange for more financing.


title: Superman II

text: Following the release of "Superman" in December 1978, Spengler encountered "Variety" columnist Army Archerd at a Christmas party at which he confirmed that while there had been tension between him and Donner, he was proud of the film and looked forward to working with him on the sequel. Archerd then contacted Donner who responded "If he's on it—I'm not." Two days after the first film's general release, Marlon Brando had sued the Salkinds for $50 million claiming he had never received his percentage of the film's gross and filed a restraining order to prevent the use of his likeness. While his restraining order request was thrown out, Brando received $15 million from the settlement. Following this, producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind announced that Marlon Brando's completed scenes for "Superman II" would be excised from the movie to avoid having to pay the actor the reported 11.75% of gross U.S. box-office takings he was now demanding for his performance in the sequel. In addition to this, Ilya Salkind had also claimed Brando was removed due to creative differences, in which he suggested to his father: "What if it's the mother [instead]? She talks about love to her son. And it kind of made sense creatively...Jor-El had done his thing if you want." Donner publicly lambasted this decision, in which he told "Variety", "That means no games... They have to want me to do it. It has to be on my terms and I don't mean financially. I mean control."


title: Superman II

text: As Donner had become unavailable because he was promoting "Superman" in Europe, the Salkinds approached Guy Hamilton to take over directional reins for "Superman II" since Lester was filming "Cuba" (1979) at the time. However, Hamilton was unavailable, but by the time "Superman II" was ready to begin filming, Lester had completed "Cuba" and was available to direct. Eventually, on March 15, 1979, the Salkinds decided to replace Donner with Richard Lester. Donner recalled, "One day, I got a telegram from them saying my services are no longer needed and that my dear friend Richard Lester would take over. To this day, I have not heard from them." Ilya Salkind countered, "Dick Donner said, 'I will do the second movie on my terms and without [Pierre] Spengler' ... Spengler was my friend since childhood and my father and I were very loyal guys. We said no, and it really boiled down to that."


title: Superman II

text: The decision to replace Donner was controversial amongst the cast and crew. Creative consultant Tom Mankiewicz was approached by Terry Semel, then a Warner Bros. vice president, to return for the sequel, but he declined out of loyalty to Donner. Mankiewicz recounted, "I have a lot of respect for [Lester]. Friendship is more important than anything. And Dick [Donner] brought me on the picture and my loyalty was with Dick and I couldn't believe that they fired him." Editor Stuart Baird also declined to return for the sequel. Gene Hackman declined to return for re-shoots, which necessitated the need for a stand-in actor and a voice double for several scenes.


title: Superman II

text: To replace Mankiewicz, "Superman" co-screenwriters David and Leslie Newman were then brought back to re-tool the script constructing a new opening and ending. The new script featured newly conceived scenes such as a new opening involving Superman thwarting the nuclear terrorists at the Eiffel Tower, Clark rescuing Lois at Niagara Falls, and a new ending in which Clark causes Lois to forget his secret identity through a hypnotic kiss. Furthermore, cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth had died before the release of "Superman". Now director, Lester was not sympathetic to Donner's filmmaking style: "Donner was emphasizing a kind of grandiose myth. There was a kind of David Lean-ish attempt in several sequences, and enormous scale. There was a type of epic quality which isn't in my nature, so my work really didn't embrace that...That's not me. That's his vision of it. I'm more quirky and I play around with slightly more unexpected silliness." Lester then brought on cinematographer Robert Paynter to have the film evoke the garish color scheme of the comics. Another replacement happened when set designer John Barry suddenly collapsed on the nearby set of "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) and died from meningitis. Peter Murton was then hired in Barry's place.


title: Superman II

text: Before filming was to begin, Christopher Reeve was initially unavailable as he had accepted to star in the film "Somewhere in Time", five months into the production shutdown by which time his contract to shoot both "Superman" films back-to-back had expired. Reeve had claimed that twelve hours after his casting was announced, he received a letter from the producers to be available for "Superman II" on July 16, which was only five days after he was to finish filming "Somewhere in Time". In March 1979, the Salkinds filed suit against Reeve alleging he had breached his contract by walking off the sequel. Furthermore, Reeve had reservations with Lester and the Newmans' script following the departure of Donner. During the renegotiation of his contract, Reeve agreed to the financial terms, but demanded more artistic control.


title: Superman II

text: Filming for "Superman II" re-commenced in September 1979 at Pinewood Studios. The remaining sequences left to be shot included the scenes of the super-villains in Midwest America and the battle in Metropolis. With Brando cut from the film, the decision was made to re-shoot the scene in which Clark confesses his love for Lois and surrender his powers. Another scene, as written in the film's original shooting script and shot, was to have Jor-El restore his superpowers by reaching out to him in a tableau reminiscent of the painting "The Creation of Adam", but the younger Salkind felt it was over the top. The first scene was re-shot with actress Susannah York taking Brando's place while the restoration of Superman's powers would take place off-screen. Location shooting took place in Canada, Paris, Norway and Saint Lucia. The Metropolis scenes—in contrast to the first film where they were filmed on location in New York—were filmed entirely on the back lot at Pinewood. The East Houston, Idaho scenes were shot on Chobham Common in Surrey, 30 miles from London. Throughout filming, Lester opted to retain his directorial technique for the three-camera setup while shooting scenes, which frustrated the actors as they did not know from where they were being filmed for their close-ups. However, Reeve noted that it made the production move at a faster pace. Filming was completed on March 10, 1980.


title: Superman II

text: Due to budgetary reasons and actors being unavailable, key scenes filmed by Donner were added to the final film. Since the Lester footage was shot two years later, continuity errors are present in the physique and styling of stars Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve. In Donner's footage, Reeve appears less bulked as he was still gaining muscle for the part. Kidder also has dramatic changes throughout; in the montage of Lester–Donner material, shot inside the "Daily Planet" and the Fortress of Solitude near the movie's conclusion, her hairstyle, hair color, and even make-up are all inconsistent. Kidder's physical appearance in the Lester footage is noticeably different; during the scenes shot for Donner she appears slender, whereas in the Lester footage she looks thinner.


title: Superman II

text: Before the film's release, Warner Bros. had appealed to the Directors Guild of America to arbitrate the appropriate co-director credit, in which they argued Lester could not be credited unless he shot 40 percent of the film. Although Lester had earlier thought he would not be credited, he approached Donner to see if he wished to be credited as co-director. Donner replied, "I don't share credit".


title: Superman II

text: Composer John Williams was originally slated to score "Superman II" in which he was given a screening with Ilya Salkind and Richard Lester. When Salkind left the projection room, Williams and Lester fell into an argument; when Salkind returned, Williams told him that he "could not get along with this man." To take his place, Richard Lester's frequent composer Ken Thorne was selected to score the sequel. Thorne wrote minimal original material and adapted source music, such as Average White Band's "Pick Up the Pieces," which appears both in the restaurant in Idaho and during Clark's second encounter with Rocky in the Alaska diner. The music was performed at the CTS Studios, Wembley, London in the spring of 1980 by a studio session orchestra (rather than the London Symphony Orchestra, which had played for the first film). The soundtrack was released on Warner Bros. Records, with one edition featuring laser-etched "S" designs repeated five times on each side.


title: Superman II

text: A complete score was released in 2008, as part of "Superman: The Music--1978-1988", an 8-CD box set released by Film Score Monthly, with a limited edition of 6,000 units.


title: Superman II

text: As part of Superman's 80th anniversary, La-La Land Records released Thorne's expanded orchestral scores for the second and third film into the expanded archival collection in October 2018.


title: Superman II

text: During a preview of the finished film, Warner Bros. executives had hoped to maximize its box office returns by releasing the film in every part of the world during their peak movie-going period. The film premiered in Australia on Thursday, December 4, 1980, and opened at the weekend in South Africa, followed by France on December 10 with Christmastime releases in Italy and Spain. The film opened in the United Kingdom and West Germany in Easter 1981. On June 1, 1981, the film premiered at the National Theater in New York City, and received its general release in 1,354 theaters in the United States and Canada on June 19—six months after its release in other parts of the world.


title: Superman II

text: To promote the film, "The New York Times" reported that Warner Bros. had licencees for 34 products including posters, Pepsi-Cola, pajamas, and T-shirts with Superman carrying the American flag. They had also enlisted their publishing division to produce calendars, pop-up books, a film novelization, a behind-the-scenes book, and a children's dictionary.


title: Superman II

text: Before production on "Superman II" resumed in 1979, the Philip Morris Company had paid $40,000 (£30,570) for their Marlboro cigarette to appear in the film. Lois Lane was shown as a chain smoker in the film, although she never smoked in the comic book. During the Metropolis battle, General Zod throws Superman into a Marlboro delivery truck, although actual vehicles for tobacco distribution are unmarked for security reasons. This led to a congressional investigation.


title: Superman II

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, "Superman II" has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critics consensus reads, "The humor occasionally stumbles into slapstick territory, and the special effects are dated, but "Superman II" meets, if not exceeds, the standard set by its predecessor." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Superman II

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times", who gave the original film very high acclaim, also praised "Superman II", giving it four out of four stars. He wrote in his review, "This movie's most intriguing insight is that Superman's disguise as Clark Kent isn't a matter of looks as much as of mental attitude: Clark is disguised not by his glasses but by his ordinariness. Beneath his meek exterior, of course, is concealed a superhero. And, the movie subtly hints, isn't that the case with us all?" Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" awarded three-and-a-half out of four stars and declared it "better than the original." Sheila Benson of the "Los Angeles Times" called it "the most interesting 'Superman' yet," adding, "This film's fun comes from character, dialogue and performance, not effects. There are, of course, enough effects to fill a dozen Saturday matinee serials but they aren't necessarily the film's deliciousness."


title: Superman II

text: Janet Maslin, reviewing for "The New York Times", wrote that ""Superman II" is a marvelous toy. It's funny, it's full of tricks and it manages to be royally entertaining, which is really all it aims for." She also praised the performances of Reeve and Hackman and found the directing style between Donner and Lester to be indistinguishable. Similarly, David Denby, reviewing for the "New York" magazine, praised the film's light approach and Hackman's performance. Christopher John, reviewing the film in "Ares Magazine", commented that ""Superman II" falls into the category of sequels containing such films as "Jaws II" – highly absorbing and entertaining, yet better films only if you never saw the original."


title: Superman II

text: British cinema magazine "Total Film" named Terence Stamp's version of General Zod No. 32 on their 'Top 50 Greatest Villains of All Time' list (beating out the No. 38 place of Lex Luthor) in 2007. Pop culture website IGN placed General Zod at No. 30 on their list of the 'Top 50 Comic Book Villains' while commenting "Stamp "is" Zod" (emphasis in original).


title: Superman II

text: The film opened on 19 screens in Australia and grossed A$287,072 in its first four days. On its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, "Superman II" broke box office records with a first day gross of $4.3 million. The next day, it grossed $5.5 million, which at the time was the highest-single box office day, surpassing the record previously set by "Star Wars" (1977) with $4.5 million. It also recorded the highest-grossing weekend up to that time with $14.1 million, surpassing the record $11.9 million set by "" (1979) and the $13.1 million 4-day weekend set by "Superman" in its third weekend.


title: Superman II

text: The film remained number one for the next three weekends, outpacing "Raiders of the Lost Ark", but "Raiders" eventually overtook it and returned to number one in its sixth week of release. In its first month of release, "Superman II" had grossed $75 million, and went on to gross $108.2 million in the United States and Canada (with the gross rental coming to $65 million), the third highest-grossing film of 1981. Internationally, it grossed $82.2 million for a worldwide total of $190.4 million.


title: Superman II

text: As with the first film, Alexander and Ilya Salkind prepared a version for worldwide television release that re-inserted unused footage (in this case 24 minutes) into the film. It was through this extended version that viewers first caught a glimpse into the "Superman II" that might have happened had Richard Donner remained as director. In fact, a majority of the added footage was shot by Donner before Richard Lester became director.


title: Superman II

text: 17 of the 24 added minutes were utilized by ABC for its 1984 network premiere. Subsequent ABC airings of the longer version would be cut further for more advertising time. The full 146-minute extended cut was shown internationally, including parts of Canada.


title: Superman II

text: The added footage offers an alternative ending to the film. In the theatrical cut, it is implied that Superman has killed the three Kryptonian villains (going against the strict code that Superman does not kill). In the extended ending, a U.S. "polar patrol" is shown picking up the three Kryptonians and Lex Luthor, after which Superman, with Lois standing beside him, destroys the Fortress of Solitude.


title: Superman II

text: In 2004, the fan-restored DVD known as "Superman II: Restored International Cut" was released through many Superman fan sites. It featured extended scenes pulled from international television broadcasts over the years. Warner Bros. threatened legal action over the bootleg release.


title: Superman II

text: During the production of "Superman Returns", Warner Bros. acquired the rights from Marlon Brando's estate to use the late actor's footage from "Superman" in the film. Shortly after, Ilya Salkind confirmed that Donner was involved in the project to re-cut "Superman II" using Brando's unused footage. Editor Michael Thau worked on the project alongside Donner and Tom Mankiewicz, who supervised the "Superman II" reconstruction. Despite some initial confusion, Thau confirmed that all the footage shot by Donner in 1977 was recovered and transferred from a vault in England.


title: Superman II

text: The new edition, titled "", was released on DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray on November 28, 2006. In order to make Donner's vision of "Superman II" feel less incomplete, finished scenes by Lester that Donner was unable to shoot were incorporated into the film as well as the screen tests by Reeve and Kidder for one pivotal scene. The film also restores several cut scenes including Marlon Brando as Jor-El, an alternate prologue and opening sequence at the "Daily Planet" that omits the Eiffel Tower opening from the original, as well as the original scripted and filmed ending for "Superman II" featuring Superman reversing time before it was cut and placed at the end of the first film.


title: Young Guns (film)

text: Young Guns is a 1988 American biographical Western film directed by Christopher Cain and written by John Fusco. The film is the first to be produced by Morgan Creek Productions. The film stars Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney, Casey Siemaszko, Terence Stamp, Terry O'Quinn, Brian Keith, a brief cameo by Tom Cruise, and Jack Palance.


title: Young Guns (film)

text: The film is a retelling of the adventures of Billy the Kid during the Lincoln County War, which took place in New Mexico during 1877–78. It was filmed in and around New Mexico. Historian Paul Hutton called "Young Guns" the most historically accurate of all Billy the Kid films as of June 1990. It opened number one at the box office and eventually grossed $56 million against an $11 million budget. A sequel, "Young Guns II", was released in August 1990.


title: Young Guns (film)

text: John Tunstall (Stamp), an educated Englishman and cattle rancher in Lincoln County, New Mexico, hires wayward young gunmen to live and work on his ranch. Tunstall is in heavy competition with a well-connected Irishman named Lawrence Murphy (Palance), who owns a large ranch; their men clash on a regular basis. Tunstall recruits Billy (Estevez) and advises him to renounce violence, saying, "He who sows the wind will reap the whirlwind." Tensions escalate between the two camps, resulting in the murder of Tunstall. Billy, Doc Scurlock (Sutherland), Jose Chavez y Chavez (Phillips), Richard M. "Dick" Brewer (Sheen), "Dirty" Steve Stephens (Mulroney), and Charlie Bowdre (Siemaszko), consult their lawyer friend Alexander McSween (O'Quinn), who manages to get them deputized and given warrants for the arrest of Murphy's murderous henchmen.


title: Young Guns (film)

text: Billy quickly challenges Dick's authority as leader, vowing revenge against Murphy and the men responsible for killing Tunstall. The men dub themselves The Regulators and arrest some of the murderers, but hot-headed Billy is unable to wait for justice. He guns down unarmed men and goes on to kill one of his fellow Regulators (later arrival J. McCloskey) in the paranoid (but correct) belief that he was still in league with Murphy. The men learn from a newspaper that they have been stripped of their badges. That same paper also confuses Dick for Billy, showing a picture of Dick labeled Billy the Kid, a nickname to which Billy takes an immediate liking.


title: Young Guns (film)

text: While the local authorities begin their hunt for Billy and the boys, the Regulators argue about continuing with their warrants or to go on the run. One of the men on their list of warrants, Buckshot Roberts (Keith), tracks them down and barricades himself in an outhouse, and Dick dies in an intense shootout. Billy appoints himself as the new leader, the gang becomes famous, and the U.S. Army is charged with bringing them to justice under Murphy's corrupt political influence.


title: Young Guns (film)

text: The gang eludes attention for some time, and Charlie gets married in Mexico. While attending the wedding, Billy meets Pat Garrett (Patrick Wayne), who is not yet a sheriff, but warns Billy of an attempt on Alex's life by Murphy's men that will happen the next day. Thus, the gang packs up and heads off to save Alex.


title: Young Guns (film)

text: Back in Lincoln, Murphy's men, led by George W. Peppin, surround Alex's house, trapping the Regulators, and a shootout begins. A ceasefire is called for the night. In the morning, accompanied by Murphy, the army comes in and torches the house, but Chavez escapes out the back. While the house is burning, the men come up with an escape plan. They begin throwing Alex's possessions out the windows of the second floor. Billy places himself inside of a large trunk, and when it lands in front of the house, he leaps out and begins to open fire.


title: Young Guns (film)

text: Meanwhile, Doc bursts out of the side stairway, followed by Charlie and Steve. Everyone makes it to the lawn, but Billy is shot twice in his arms. Charlie challenges the bounty hunter John Kinney (Allen Keller); Kinney shoots Charlie and Charlie fires back, killing each other.


title: Young Guns (film)

text: Chavez comes from behind the army on horseback, and jumps the barricade to get extra horses to the Regulators. Billy jumps on one horse, but Doc is shot trying to get on another. Doc still manages to pick up his girlfriend Yen Sun (Alice Carter), Murphy's Chinese sex-slave, and they ride off. Chavez tries to get Steve on a horse, but is wounded and falls to the ground. Steve helps Chavez onto a horse, but is left alone and unarmed. The Army and Murphy's men shoot and kill Steve.


title: Young Guns (film)

text: Alex cheers on the boys as they ride away. The army opens fire on him with a Gatling gun and he is killed. As the remaining men ride away, Murphy hurls threats and curses after them, but is stunned when Billy turns back and shoots Murphy right between the eyes, killing him.


title: Young Guns (film)

text: The final scene is a voice-over of Doc explaining what happened afterwards: Alex's widow caused a congressional investigation into the Lincoln County War. Chavez took work at a farm in California. Doc moved east to New York and married Yen Sun, whom he had saved from Murphy. Billy continued to ride until he was found and shot dead by Pat Garrett. Billy was buried next to Charlie Bowdre at Fort Sumner. A stranger went to the grave of Billy the Kid late one night and made a carving in the headstone. The epitaph read only one word: "PALS".


title: Young Guns (film)

text: The film was released on VHS on January 4, 1989 and on DVD on March 17, 1998 by Artisan Home Entertainment.


title: Young Guns (film)

text: The movie was a box-office hit, and grossed $45.7 million in the US and Canada. Internationally it grossed $11 million for a worldwide total of $56 million.


title: Young Guns (film)

text: The film received mixed reviews from critics. It holds a 42% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 38 reviews, with an average rating of 4.6/10 with the consensus: ""Young Guns" rounds up a posse of attractive young leads, but this cheerfully shallow Brat Pack western ultimately has too much hat and not enough cattle." Metacritic gave the film a score of 50 based on 13 people, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Young Guns (film)

text: The movie was deemed closer to history in some ways than earlier cinematic incarnations of the Lincoln County War. The relationship between Tunstall and Murphy was particularly close to the historical reality (as it was in "Chisum"). The killings of Hill and McCloskey are also particularly close to the historical record as well. The portrayals of Josiah Gordon "Doc" Scurlock, Jose Chavez y Chavez, Richard "Dick" Brewer, and Charlie Bowdre, all of whom are not in earlier cinematic versions of the story are praised, whereas the absence of John Chisum is noticeable.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: The Binding of Isaac is a roguelike video game designed by independent developers Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl. It was released in 2011 for Microsoft Windows, then ported to OS X, and Linux. The game's title and plot are inspired by the Biblical story of the Binding of Isaac. In the game, Isaac's mother receives a message from God demanding the life of her son as proof of her faith, and Isaac, fearing for his life, flees into the monster-filled basement of their home where he must fight to survive. Players control Isaac or one of seven other unlockable characters through a procedurally generated dungeon in a roguelike manner, fashioned after those of "The Legend of Zelda", defeating monsters in real-time combat while collecting items and power-ups to defeat bosses and eventually Isaac's mother.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: The game was the result of a week-long game jam between McMillen and Himsl to develop a "The Legend of Zelda"-inspired roguelike that allowed McMillen to showcase his feelings about both positive and negative aspects of religion that he had come to discover from conflicts between his Catholic and born again Christian family members while growing up. McMillen had considered the title a risk but one he could take after the financial success of "Super Meat Boy", and released it without much fanfare to Steam in September 2011, not expecting many sales. The game soon gained popularity partially as a result of various Let's Play videos showcasing the title. McMillen and Himsl released an expansion "Wrath of the Lamb" in May 2012, but were limited from further expansion due to limitations with the Flash platform. They had started working with Nintendo in 2012 to release a 3DS version, but Nintendo later backed out of the deal, citing controversy over the game's religious themes.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: Developer Nicalis worked with McMillen in 2014 to complete a remake of the game, "", bringing additional features that McMillen had planned that exceeded Flash's limitation, as well as to improve the game's graphics and enable ports for other systems beyond personal computers, including PlayStation 4 and Vita, Xbox One, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, and the Nintendo Switch. This remake has commonly been cited as one of the best roguelike games of all time.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: McMillen later worked with James Id to develop "The Legend of Bum-bo", which serves as a prequel to "The Binding of Isaac".


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: "The Binding of Isaac" has been well-received, with critics praising the game's roguelike nature to encourage repeated playthroughs. By July 2014, McMillen reported over 3 million copies had been sold. The game has been said to contribute to renewed interest in the roguelike genre from both players and developers.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: "The Binding of Isaac" is a top-down dungeon crawler game, presented using two-dimensional sprites, in which the player controls Isaac or other unlockable characters as they explore the dungeons located in Isaac's basement. The characters differ in speed, amount of health, amount of damage they deal, and other attributes. The game's mechanics and presentation is similar to the dungeons of "The Legend of Zelda", while incorporating random, procedurally-generated levels in the manner of a roguelike game. On each floor of the basement dungeon, the player must fight monsters in a room before continuing onto the next room. This is most commonly done by the character's tears as bullets in the style of a twin-stick shooter, but the player can also use a limited supply of bombs to damage enemies and clear out parts of the room. Other methods of defeating enemies become possible as the character gains power-ups, items that are automatically worn by the player-character when picked up that can alter the character's core attributes, such as increasing health or the strength of each tear, or cause additional side effects, such as for allowing charged tear shots to be fired after holding down a controller button for a short while, or a means to fire tears behind the character. Power-ups include passive items that improve the character's attributes automatically, active power-ups that can be used once before they are recharged by completing additional rooms in the dungeon, and single-use power-ups such as pills or Tarot cards that confer a one-time benefit when used, such as regaining full health, or increasing or decreasing all attributes of the character. The effect of power-ups stack, so that the player may come into highly-beneficial power-up combinations.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: Once a room is cleared of monsters, it will remain clear, allowing the player to re-trace their way through the level, though once they move onto the next level, they cannot return. Along the way, the player can collect money to buy power-ups from shopkeepers, keys to unlock special treasure rooms, and new weapons and power-ups to strengthen their chances against the enemies. The player's health is tracked by a number of hearts; if the character loses all his hearts, the game ends in permadeath and the player must start over from a freshly-generated dungeon. Each floor of the dungeon includes a boss which the player must defeat before continuing to the next level. On the sixth of eight floors, the player fights Isaac's mother; after defeating her, Isaac crawls into her womb. Later levels are significantly harder, culminating in a fight against the heart of Isaac's mother on the eighth floor. An optional ninth floor, Sheol, contains the boss Satan. Winning the game with certain characters or by certain conditions unlocks new power-ups that might appear in the dungeon or the ability to use one of the other characters. The game tracks the various power-ups that the player has found over time which can be reviewed from the game's menus.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: "The Binding of Isaac"s plot is very loosely inspired by the biblical story of the same name. Isaac, a child, and his mother live in a small house on a hill, both happily keeping to themselves, with Isaac drawing pictures and playing with his toys, and his mother watching Christian broadcasts on television. Isaac's mother then hears "a voice from above", a voice that she believes is that of God Himself, stating that her son is corrupted with sin, and needs to be saved. It asks her to remove all that is evil from Isaac, in an attempt to save him. His mother agrees, taking away his toys, drawings, and even his clothes.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: The voice once again speaks to Isaac's mother, stating that Isaac must be cut off from all that is evil in the world. Once again, his mother agrees, and locks Isaac inside his room. Once more, the voice speaks to Isaac's mother. It states that she has done well, but it still questions her devotion, and tells her to sacrifice her son. She agrees, grabbing a butcher's knife from the kitchen and walks to Isaac's room. Isaac, watching through a sizable crack in his door, starts to panic. He finds a trapdoor hidden under his rug and jumps in, just as his mother bursts through his bedroom door. Isaac then puts the paper he was drawing onto his wall, which becomes the title screen.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: Until "" expansion in the , there is no clear conclusion, or even consistent narrative, to the story past this point. The game features 13 possible endings, one after each major boss fight. The first ten endings serve as introductions to unlocked items and mechanics, while the final three suggest that Isaac climbs into a toy chest and suffocates.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: During the game's loading points, Isaac is shown curled up in a ball, crying. His thoughts are visible, ranging among rejection from his mother and humiliation from his peers to a scenario involving his own death.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: "The Binding of Isaac" was developed following the release of "Super Meat Boy", which McMillen considered a significant risk and a large time effort. When "Super Meat Boy" was released to both critical praise and strong sales, he felt that he no longer had to worry about the consequences of taking risks with his finances supported by its sales. He also considered he could take further risk with the concept. He had been planning to work with Tommy Refenes, the co-developer of "Super Meat Boy", on their next game, "Mewgenics", but as Refenes had taken some time off, McMillen looked to develop something he considered to be "low stress" with minimal expectations such as an Adobe Flash game.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: "The Binding of Isaac"s main concept was the result of a weeklong game jam that McMillen had with Florian Himsl; at the time, his co-contributor on "Super Meat Boy", Tommy Refenes, was on vacation. The concept McMillen had was two-fold: to develop a roguelike title based on the first "The Legend of Zelda" game's dungeon structure, and to develop a game that addressed McMillen's thoughts on religion. McMillen had been inspired by Shigeru Miyamoto, the designer of the original "Zelda" games. McMillen saw the potential of the procedural generation aspect of roguelikes including in "Spelunky" and "Desktop Dungeons", and considered that working on procedural generation would help towards development of his planned game "Mewgenics".


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: Random rooms were created for each floor of the dungeon by selecting ten to twenty rooms from a pre-built library of 200 layouts, adding in the monsters, items, and other features, and then including fixed rooms that would be found on each floor, such as a boss room and treasure room. In expanding the gameplay, McMillen used the structure of "Zelda"s dungeons to design how the player would progress through the game. In a typical "Zelda" dungeon, according to McMillen, the player acquires a new item that helps them to progress farther in the game; he took the same inspiration to assure that each level in "Isaac" included at least one item and one bonus item on defeating the boss that would boost the character's attributes. McMillen also wanted to encourage players to experiment to learn how things work within "Isaac", mirroring how Miyamoto had done with the original "Zelda" game. He designed the level progression to become more difficult with the player's progression in the game, as well as additional content that became available after beating the game as to make it feel like the game was long. McMillen designed four of the selectable characters based on the main classes of "Dungeons & Dragons"—fighter, thief, cleric and wizard.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: On the story side, McMillen explained that the religious tone is based on his own experiences with his family, split between Catholics and born-again Christians. McMillen noted that while both sides born out faith from the same Bible, their attitudes were different; he found some of the Catholic rituals his family performed inspiring, while other beliefs they had were condemning of several pastimes McMillen had participated in like "Dungeons & Dragons". He took inspiration from that duality to create "Isaac"s narrative, showing how religion can both instill harmful feelings while also bringing about dark creativity. McMillen also considered the scare tactics used by the Christian right to condemn popular media of the 1980s, such as heavy metal and video games. McMillen noted how many of the propaganda films from this period featured satanic cults that would sacrifice children, and he noted how many Biblical stories mirrored these concepts, subsequently building the story around that. He also stated that he also tended to like "really weird stuff" relating to toilet humor and similar types of off-color humor that did not sit well with his family and which he had explored in previous games before "Super Meat Boy". While "Super Meat Boy" helped to make his reputation (including being one of the featured developers in ""), he felt it was a "safe" game considering his preferred type of humor, and used "Isaac" to return to this form, considering that the game could easily be "career suicide" but would make a statement about what he really wanted to do.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: "The Binding of Isaac" began as a game jam between McMillen and Florian Himsl. Within the week, they had a working game written in Adobe Flash's ActionScript 2. The two agreed to complete it out as a game they could release on Steam though with no expectations of sales. Completion of the game from the prototype to the finished state took about 3 months with part-time development. During this time, they discovered there were several limitations on the size and scope of both Flash and ActionScript that limited how much they could do with the game, but continued to use the tools as to release the title. McMillen said that because they were not worried about sales, they were able to work with Valve to release the game without fears of censorship or having to seek an ESRB rating. Releasing through Steam also enabled them to update the game freely, several times on its initial release, an aspect that they could not do with other consoles without significant cost to themselves. They did release without significant end-user testing, as it would have taken several hundreds of users to go through all the various combinations of items that a player could collect, and McMillen recognized they had released the title with their buyers being playtesters for them. A week after the Steam release, McMillen released a demo version via the website "Newgrounds". Merge Games produced a physical edition that included the game, soundtrack, and a poster, for stores in the United Kingdom in 2012.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: AS2 was a very outdated program at the time, and caused many low-end PCs and even high-end PCs to encounter slow down at times. AS2 also lacked controller support, and Tommy Refenes had to help write an achievement program that would allow people to unlock Steam achievements. McMillen later stated that he would not have made it in Flash at all if he had known anyone would actually care about "Isaac".


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: Danny Baranowsky, the game's composer and who previously worked with McMillen on "Super Meat Boy", was involved early on with the project shortly after the completion of the first prototype. McMillen and Baranowsky worked back and forth, with McMillen providing artwork from the game and allowing Baranowsky to develop the musical themes based on that; this would often lead to McMillen creating more art to support the music as it progressed. Baranowsky had been drawn to "The Binding of Isaac" as though the game puts forth a dark tone, he stated it had rather silly undertones underneath and such that one could not take it too seriously. Some of the songs were inspired by classical choral music but modified to fit the theme of the game. Other works were inspired by boss fight songs composed by Nobuo Uematsu for the "Final Fantasy" series. Baranowsky also had additional time after finishing the main songs for the game to craft short additional tracks that were used for special rooms like shops and secret areas.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: In January 2012, as the game has surpassed 450,000 units sold, McMillen stated that he was approached by a publisher that had interest in bringing the title to the Nintendo 3DS as a downloadable title through the Nintendo eShop, though McMillen had reservations given Nintendo's reputation for less risque content. In late February, McMillen stated that Nintendo had rejected the game because of "questionable religious content". He believed this stemmed from Germany's classification board rating the existing Windows version of the game as "age 16+" due to potentially blasphemous content, the first such time a game was rated in that manner in the country. McMillen noted that Nintendo executives he spoke to before this decision had noted some blasphemous content would have been acceptable, and were more concerned with overtly religious content. He also noted that he was approached about his willingness to make some changes to the game to make it more suitable for the 3DS, but never was given a list of specific changes. McMillen speculated that Nintendo was worried about its reputation; because of the game's resemblance to "The Legend of Zelda", an unknowing child could potentially have downloaded the title and been shocked by the content, which would have reflected poorly on Nintendo.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: Several game websites were outraged at Nintendo's decision. Though disappointed with Nintendo's decision, McMillen did not think the loss of the 3DS port was a major issue, and saw a brief sales burst on Steam as the news was covered on gaming websites. McMillen further praised the flexibility of the Steam platform, which does not require games to obtain ESRB ratings to be published on the service, and the freedom it gave to the publishers regardless of the game content.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: Nintendo would later allow the "Rebirth" remake to be released on both the New Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U in 2015; this came in part because Nintendo's Steve Singer (vice president of licensing), Mark Griffin (a senior manager in licensing), and Dan Adelman (the head of indie development) championed support for "The Binding of Isaac".


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: An expansion to the game, entitled "Wrath of the Lamb", was released through Steam on May 28, 2012. McMillen was inspired to create the expansion not only due to the success of the base game, but because his wife Danielle had fully completed the base game, the first game he had written in which she had shown significant interest. The expansion adds 70% more content to the original, and contains more than 10 bosses, over 100 items, over 40 unlocks, two additional endings, and two additional optional levels. This expansion added new "alternate" floors, which can replace the normal floors, creating an alternate route through the game. These floors contain harder enemies, and a different set of bosses. Other features include a new item type, Trinkets, which have a variety of passive or triggered effects when carried, as well as new room types. McMillen had plans to release a second expansion beyond "Wrath of the Lamb", but was constrained by the limits of Flash at this point.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: Sometime in 2012 after "Isaac" release, McMillen was approached by Tyrone Rodriguez of Nicalis who asked if McMillen was interested in bringing the game to consoles. McMillen was interested, but insisted that they would have to reprogram the game to get around the limitations of Flash and to include "Wrath of the Lamb" and the second planned expansion, remaking the game's graphics in 16-bit instead of vector-based Flash graphics. Further, McMillen had wanted nothing to do with the business aspects of the game, having recounted the difficulties he had in handling this for "Super Meat Boy". Nicalis agreed to these, and began work in 2012 on what would become "", an improved version of the title. It was released on November 4, 2014, for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita, with versions for the Wii U, New Nintendo 3DS, and Xbox One released on July 23, 2015. The game introduced numerous new playable characters, items, enemies, bosses, challenges, and room layout seeds for floors. A content pack, entitled "Afterbirth" was released for "Rebirth" starting October 2015, adding new alternate chapters, characters and items, as well as wave-based Greed mode. A second update, "Afterbirth+", added further additional content and support for user-created modifications, and was released on January 3, 2017. A third and final update, "Repentance" added a lot of new content and bug fixes, including most of the content from "Antibirth", one of the biggest fan-made expansions, such as a new alternate path through the whole game as well as numerous character variations and new final bosses. This expansion was released on March 31, 2021.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: McMillen collaborated with James Id to develop "The Legend of Bum-bo", which was released on November 12, 2019, for Windows and later for iOS and Switch. "Bum-bo" is described as a prequel to "Isaac", and Isaac and Gish appear as characters in the game. Isaac also appears as a playable character in the fighting game "Blade Strangers" and the puzzle game "Crystal Crisis".


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: On June 27, 2018, Edmund McMillen announced and later released a card game adaptation in cooperation with Studio 71 titled "".


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: "The Binding of Isaac" received generally favorable reviews from game critics. On Metacritic, the game has an average of 84 out of 100 based on 30 reviews.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: "The Binding of Isaac" has been received by reviewers as a game with high replayability with the extensive range and combinations of power-ups that the player can encounter during a run-through, while providing an accessible "Zelda"-inspired framework that most video game players would recognize and easily come to understand. John Teti for "Eurogamer" praised the game for its replayability through the randomization aspects, calling it "the most accessible exploration of the roguelike idea" that he had seen. "Edge"s similarly commented on the lure to replay the game due to its short playthrough time, calling it "an imaginative and quick-witted arcade experience that manages to be both depraved and strangely sweet by turn". GameSpot's Maxwell McGee stated that the game smartly has removed extraneous features such that "what remains is a tightly focused game that continues to feel fresh even after multiple completions". Though the game is considered to be accessible to new players, reviewers found the game to be a difficult challenge, often set by the randomness of what power-ups the player happened to acquire during a single run. Writers for "The A.V. Club" rated the game an A on a grading scale, and favorably compared the title to McMillen's "Super Meat Boy", requiring the player to have "masochistic patience in the face of terrible odds". This difficulty was considered mitigated by the large number of possible power-ups that the game offers, most would not be seen by players until they have replayed the game many times. McGee noted that while players can review what items they have discovered prior to a run-through, this feature does not explain what each item does, leaving the effect to be determined by the player while in game.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: "Game Informer"s Adam Biessener noted that while "The Binding of Isaac" had a number of software bugs on release that may briefly detract from the experience, "McMillen's vision shines through" in the game's playability, art style, and story. Neilie Johnson for "IGN" found that some players may be put off by the game's crudeness but otherwise "it's totally random, highly creative and brutally unforgiving". Similarly, Nathan Muenier for "GameSpy" noted the game had some shock value that one must work past, but otherwise was "imaginative" and "utterly absorbing". Alternatively, Jordan Devore for "Destructoid" considered the visual style of the game one of its "biggest selling points", following from McMillen's past style of dark comedy from "Super Meat Boy". Baranowsky's soundtrack was found by reviewers to well-suit the themes of the game, and used appropriately to avoid extensive repetition during a playthrough. Kirk Hamilton of "Kotaku" called the soundtrack as the combination of several genres and the musical styles of Danny Elfman, Muse, and "Final Fantasy" that created something "dark and unique".


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: "The Binding of Isaac" was nominated in the Best Independent Game category at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, but lost to "Minecraft".


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: McMillen had only expected the game to sell a few hundred copies when he released it on Steam. For the first few months of its release, sales were roughly a few hundred per day, but shortly thereafter, McMillen found sales suddenly were boosted, a fact he attributed to numerous Let's Play videos that had been published by players to showcase the game and drove sales. This popularity also drew interest by players that wanted to create custom mods for the game, which would become a factor in the design of the sequel to better support modding.


title: The Binding of Isaac (video game)

text: By November 2012, the game sold over one million copies, with at least one-quarter of those having purchased the "Wrath of the Lamb" extension. As of July 2014, the game has sold over 3 million copies. By July 2015, following the release of "Rebirth", the combined games had over 5 million units sold. "The Binding of Isaac" is said to be a contributing factor towards the growth of the roguelike genre since around 2010, with its success paving the way for later games that used the roguelike formula, such as "" and "Don't Starve".


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Jordan Alexander Spieth (born July 27, 1993) is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour and former world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking. He is a three-time major winner and the 2015 FedEx Cup champion.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth's first major win came in the 2015 Masters Tournament, when he shot a 270 (−18). He tied the 72-hole record set by Tiger Woods in 1997 and became the second youngest golfer (behind Woods) to win the Masters. He then won the 2015 U.S. Open with a score of 5-under-par. He was the youngest U.S. Open champion since amateur Bobby Jones in 1923. He followed up with a win in the 2015 Tour Championship, which clinched the 2015 FedEx Cup. Two years later, Spieth won his third major at the 2017 Open Championship, by three shots at 12 under par.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth was born in 1993 in Dallas, Texas, to Shawn Spieth and Mary Christine (née Julius) Spieth. He attended St. Monica Catholic School and graduated from Jesuit College Preparatory School in 2011. He learned to play golf at Brookhaven Country Club.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: In 2009 at Trump National Bedminster and 2011 at Gold Mountain, Spieth won the U.S. Junior Amateur and joined Tiger Woods as the tournament's only two-time winners.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Before turning 18 in July 2011, he was No. 1 in the AJGA Golf Rankings, which promotes the best junior golfers in the world.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: He finished second in the 2008 and 2009 Junior PGA Championship. The American Junior Golf Association named him the Rolex Junior Player of the Year in 2009.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth accepted an exemption to play in the PGA Tour's HP Byron Nelson Championship in 2010. It was the event's first amateur exemption since 1995. The tournament's previous exemptions had included Trip Kuehne in 1995, Justin Leonard, and Woods in 1993. He made the cut, becoming the sixth-youngest player to make the cut at a PGA Tour event. Spieth was tied for seventh place after the third round, and finished the tournament in a tie for 16th place. He was offered another exemption into the tournament in 2011, when he again made the cut and finished in a tie for 32nd.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth played college golf at the University of Texas. Spieth was a member of the 2011 Walker Cup team and played in three of the four rounds; he halved his foursomes match and won both singles matches.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: In his freshman year at Texas, Spieth won three events and led the team in scoring average. He helped his team win the NCAA championship, was named to the All-Big 12 Team, Big 12 Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year, and was a first-team All-American.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: In 2012, Spieth earned a spot as an alternate in the U.S. Open after Brandt Snedeker withdrew from the tournament; he tied for 21st and was the low amateur. He became the number one amateur in the World Amateur Golf Ranking after his performance in the U.S. Open and Patrick Cantlay's decision to turn professional.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: In 2012, after failing to advance to the Final Stage of PGA Tour qualifying school, 19-year-old Spieth turned professional midway through his sophomore year at Texas. He partnered with Under Armour for sponsorship in January 2013 and with BioSteel Sports Supplements in March.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: In the 2013 season, Spieth played in his first tournament in January, where he missed the cut by two strokes at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. In March, Spieth made three cuts, finishing tied for second at the Puerto Rico Open and tied for seventh at the Tampa Bay Championship. He earned Special Temporary Member status in March, which allowed him unlimited sponsor exemptions; non-members are limited to seven exemptions per season. He notched another top-10 finish in April at the RBC Heritage, a tie for ninth.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: On July 14 (about two weeks before his 20th birthday) Spieth won the John Deere Classic on the fifth hole of a three-way, sudden-death playoff against defending champion Zach Johnson and David Hearn. He became the fourth youngest PGA Tour winner and the first teenager to do so since Ralph Guldahl won the Santa Monica Open in 1931. Spieth holed out from a greenside bunker on the 72nd hole to make the playoff.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: With the victory, Spieth was granted full status as a PGA Tour member and became eligible for the FedEx Cup, entering in 11th place in the standings. It also earned him entry into the next three majors: the 2013 Open Championship, PGA Championship, and 2014 Masters. Five weeks after his first victory, Spieth played the Wyndham Championship, where he lost in a playoff to Patrick Reed.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth shot a final round 62 in the Deutsche Bank Championship, vaulting him into a tie for fourth. Just two days later, captain Fred Couples selected Spieth for the United States squad in the 2013 Presidents Cup. On September 27, 2013, he was named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. At the end of the 2013 season, he was ranked 10th on the PGA Tour money list and 22nd in the Official World Golf Ranking.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth made his Masters debut in April and shared the 54-hole lead with Bubba Watson. During the final round, Spieth at one point was the stand-alone leader by two strokes and in position to become the youngest Masters champion in history; Tiger Woods holds the record at age 21. But Watson retook the lead heading into the second nine and never relinquished it. Spieth finished in a tie for second with Jonas Blixt, becoming the youngest runner-up in Masters history. Spieth ended the tournament with no scores above even-par (72) in any of his rounds. His finish moved him into the top 10 in the world rankings for the first time.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Following the PGA Championship, Spieth earned selection to the 2014 Ryder Cup team, becoming the youngest American to play in the matches for 85 years since Horton Smith in 1929.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: In November, Spieth won his second tournament as a professional at the Emirates Australian Open on the PGA Tour of Australasia; in the final round he shot a course-record 63 to win the title by six strokes.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: A week later, he completed consecutive victories, winning the Hero World Challenge in Florida. He won the tournament wire-to-wire and in doing so set a new tournament scoring record of 26-under-par.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: On March 15, Spieth won the Valspar Championship in a three-way playoff with Patrick Reed and Sean O'Hair. He secured his victory on the third extra hole by sinking a 30-foot birdie putt. The win moved him to 6th in the Official World Golf Ranking.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: A runner-up finish at the Valero Texas Open moved him to a career-high ranking of fourth in the world. The following week, Spieth lost in a sudden-death playoff at the Shell Houston Open, having held the 54-hole lead. He shot a final round 70, but had to hole an 8-footer on the last to force the playoff following low rounds by J. B. Holmes and Johnson Wagner that had pushed them to the top of the leaderboard. On the first playoff hole, Spieth put his drive nearly into the water, and then followed up with a poor shot into the green-side bunker, causing his elimination from the playoff, which was won by Holmes.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: On April 9, Spieth shot an opening round 64 to finish the day eight strokes under par with a three-shot lead in the Masters Tournament at Augusta, Georgia; Spieth set a record as the youngest player to lead the Masters after the first round. His score was only one shot behind the course record of 63 shared by Nick Price and Greg Norman, with their rounds coming in 1986 and 1996 respectively.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth shot 66 the following day to break the 36-hole Masters scoring record by posting 14-under 130 through two rounds. The previous record, set by Raymond Floyd in 1976, was 13-under 131. He broke the 54-hole record at the Masters shooting a 16-under 200 through three rounds.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: During the final round Spieth briefly held a score of −19 but bogeyed the final hole resulting in him tying Tiger Woods' 1997 score record at 18-under. Spieth set the record for the most birdies during the Masters by making 28 and became the second-youngest person to win the Masters. His victory was the first wire-to-wire Masters win since Raymond Floyd's in 1976. The victory moved Spieth to #2 in the Official World Golf Ranking.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: On June 21, Spieth won the U.S. Open to claim his second major championship. He carded a one-under 69 in the final round to finish with a total of 275 (-5) and win the tournament by one stroke over Dustin Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen. Spieth had begun the day in a four-way tie for the lead and played in the penultimate group alongside Branden Grace.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: He opened his final round with a bogey to fall behind, but then a run 12 pars and two birdies in his next 14 holes moved him into a tie for the lead with Grace at five under par. On the 16th hole, Grace hit his tee shot out of bounds that led to a double bogey and Spieth capitalized by rolling in a lengthy birdie putt to create a three shot swing, which gave Spieth a three shot lead with two to play. However, on the 17th tee, Spieth pushed his tee shot well right into the thick rough, which led to a double bogey and coupled with Johnson's birdie on the 16th, the two were tied for the lead briefly. Spieth made birdie on the 18th to become the leader in the clubhouse. Johnson then had an eagle putt to win the tournament outright on the 72nd hole, but three-putted from 12 feet to finish one stroke behind.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth became only the sixth player ever to win the Masters and the U.S. Open in the same year, and the first since Tiger Woods in 2002. The other four golfers to accomplish this feat are Hall of Fame members Craig Wood, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, and Jack Nicklaus. He became the fourth-youngest player to win multiple major championships and the youngest winner of the U.S. Open since Bobby Jones in 1923.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: The week before The Open Championship, Spieth chose to play at the John Deere Classic rather than the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, where many other top-ranked players were competing to prepare for the links style courses.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth shot the lowest round of his professional career to date, with a 61 in the 3rd round. He eventually won the tournament in a playoff with Tom Gillis after Gillis hit the ball in the pond on the 2nd playoff hole. Spieth earned his fourth victory of the year. His quest for the grand slam ended when he finished tied for 4th in The Open Championship with a final score of –14, one stroke out of a playoff. He had been tied for the lead but bogeyed the 17th hole to drop one stroke behind and could not make his birdie on the 18th to join the playoff.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: After finishing second behind Jason Day at the 2015 PGA Championship, he became the world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking. He was the 18th different golfer to earn the honor. He was number one for two weeks in August 2015 and one week in September.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth missed the cut in The Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship, the first two events of the FedEx Cup playoffs. However, his tied for 13th finish at the BMW Championship kept him second overall in the standings. Only needing a victory to clinch the championship, Spieth won the 2015 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club by four strokes. With the win, his fifth of the year, Spieth became the ninth FedEx Cup champion and earned a $10 million bonus for winning the Cup. Spieth won $12,030,485 (not including the $10 million bonus) in 2015, a PGA Tour record for a single year. He regained the world number one ranking.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth swept all the major awards for the season: PGA Player of the Year and PGA Tour Player of the Year (Jack Nicklaus Trophy), Vardon Trophy and Byron Nelson Award for leading the tour in scoring average, and Arnold Palmer Award for leading the tour's money list.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth started the year when he won the Hyundai Tournament of Champions with a dominant display that saw him race to an eight stroke victory over Patrick Reed. His score of −30 was not only a personal best, it was also only the second time a player reached −30 in a 72-hole PGA Tour event, after Ernie Els achieved the feat in 2003 at the same event. Spieth also matched Tiger Woods, by winning his seventh PGA Tour event before the age of 23.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: In April 2016, Spieth shot a bogey-free 66 during the first round of the Masters to open up a two shot lead over the field. He carded a two-over-par 74 during the second round, leading by one over Rory McIlroy entering the weekend. He led by one stroke after a third round 73. In the final round, after leading by five strokes heading into the back-nine, Spieth suffered one of the biggest collapses in Masters history, with many comparing it to the meltdown of Greg Norman at the 1996 Masters. After bogeys at the 10th and 11th holes, Spieth hit two balls into the water at the par-3 12th hole, carding a quadruple-bogey and dropping him to a tie for fourth, three shots back. He finished second in the tournament, losing to Danny Willett by three strokes. Three-time Masters winner Nick Faldo, who won the 1996 tournament, said that Spieth's collapse "made Norman's feel like a joyful stroll down Magnolia Lane".


title: Jordan Spieth

text: On May 29, 2016, Spieth returned to the winner's circle for the first time since his Masters collapse when he won the Dean & DeLuca Invitational. He birdied six holes on the back nine on Sunday to see off the challenge of Harris English by three strokes.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Following a strong showing in the 2016 FedEx Cup Playoffs, Spieth played a prominent role on a victorious U.S. Ryder Cup Team. As the world's #3 ranked player, behind Jason Day and Rory McIlroy, Spieth was looked upon as a leader within the American locker room, illustrating both his maturity as a 23-year-old as well as the respect his peers have for him.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: In November, Spieth won the Emirates Australian Open on the PGA Tour of Australasia for the second time in three years, shooting a final round 69 to finish at −12, level with Australians Cameron Smith and Ashley Hall. Spieth claimed the title on the first playoff hole with a birdie, while Hall missed his birdie opportunity. The win was Spieth's 11th of his professional career and his third of 2016.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth began the year as defending champion at the SBS Tournament of Champions, but had to settle for a tie for third, six shots behind eventual winner Justin Thomas. The following week, at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Spieth again finished in third. Another top ten finish followed at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, to maintain Spieth's solid start to the year.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: On February 12, in his 100th PGA Tour tournament as a professional, Spieth picked up his first victory of the year at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, finishing at −19. With this win, Spieth became just the second man, along with Tiger Woods, to win nine times on the PGA Tour before the age of 24, post-World War II.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: His next start saw him tied for 22nd at the Genesis Open, before finishing tied for 12th at the WGC-Mexico Championship. His next event was also a World Golf Championship event; the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. Spieth was seeded 5th, but failed to progress out of the pool stage; a surprise loss to Japan's 54th seed Hideto Tanihara (who would go on to reach the semi-finals) in his opening match, ultimately costing him. Spieth's first missed cut of the year came a week later at the Shell Houston Open.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: In his fourth appearance at the Masters, Spieth finished tied for 11th. This was the first time that he had failed to finish either first or second in the opening major of the year. Spieth entered the final round just two shots off the lead, but a 3-over-par 75 on Sunday dashed his hopes of a second Green Jacket.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: After finishing 4th alongside Ryan Palmer at the Zurich Classic, Spieth missed consecutive cuts at the Players Championship (his third successive missed cut at golf's unofficial "Fifth Major") and the AT&T Byron Nelson. A return to form came at the Dean & DeLuca Invitational, where Spieth just missed out on successfully defending his title, finishing a shot behind eventual winner Kevin Kisner. A solid if unspectacular tie for 13th followed at the Memorial Tournament, his final start before the U.S. Open.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth arrived at Erin Hills for the U.S. Open looking for a second victory at golf's second major in three years and a third major title overall. With big names, including the world's top-three (defending champion and world no. 1 Dustin Johnson, world no. 2 Rory McIlroy and world no. 3 Jason Day) all failing to make the cut, Spieth did manage to do so and with just eight shots covering all the players who made the weekend, it was anyone's title to win. For Spieth however, a 4-over-par 76 on Saturday ended any chances and he eventually finished at one-over-par for the tournament and in a tie for 35th.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: The following week, Spieth made his debut at the Travelers Championship and began with a 7-under-par 63 to lead after the first round and kept his advantage heading into the final round. He ended the tournament at −12, along with Daniel Berger, who was seeking his second victory in three weeks. Spieth holed out from a greenside bunker for birdie on the first playoff hole to take his 10th PGA Tour title, just over a month shy of his 24th birthday.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: On July 23, Spieth won the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, giving him his third major title. Spieth tied for the lead after a first-round 65 and held the lead outright after the second and third rounds, leaving him three shots clear of Matt Kuchar heading into the final day. However, that lead was lost after three bogeys in his opening four holes of the final round. Kuchar took the lead with five holes remaining after Spieth drove his ball 100 yards to the right of the fairway on the par-4 13th, leaving him with an unplayable lie and needing to take a drop for a one stroke penalty; Spieth limited the damage by striping a 3-iron from the practice range area and making bogey, leaving him just a shot behind Kuchar. In a show of good sportsmanship, Spieth apologized to Kuchar for the 21-minute delay to sort out his wayward tee shot.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth's response to that wobble saw him nearly holing his tee shot at 14 (where he would make birdie), draining a 35-foot putt for an eagle at 15, and carding birdies at 16 and 17. Spieth finished with a final round 69 — three strokes clear of Kuchar, who also carded a 69 – and became just the second player in history after Jack Nicklaus to win three of the four men's golf majors before his 24th birthday.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: After finishing in a tie for 13th at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Spieth headed to the final major of the year, the PGA Championship, with the opportunity to become just the sixth man in history, to win the career grand slam. However, he would only finish in a tie for 28th; this was his one and only opportunity to be the youngest to complete this feat.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth finished second in the first FedEx Cup Playoff event at The Northern Trust, losing to world no. 1 Dustin Johnson in a playoff. Spieth had been leading by three strokes heading into the final round, and was five shots clear after five holes on Sunday. However, his tee shot found the water at the par-3 6th (where he made double bogey) and Johnson pulled level at the 10th. A clutch par putt at the 17th meant the two men were level heading to the 72nd and final hole of regular play. Spieth appeared to have the advantage after he lagged a 70-foot putt to within a few feet, while Johnson needed to make a 20-footer for par (after pulling his tee shot into the rough) to force a playoff. Johnson made the putt, and then on the first playoff hole (also at 18), Johnson carried the lake and wedged to within a few feet. Spieth found the fringe on the back of the green, but could not make the birdie he needed, missing out on his fourth win of the year, and in the process, seeing Johnson take his fourth title of the season.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Another runner-up finish would follow the next week at the Dell Technologies Championship, finishing three shots behind Justin Thomas, who took his fifth victory of the season. Spieth would then finish in a tie for 7th at the BMW Championship.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth headed into the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake knowing victory would guarantee him his second FedEx Cup title in three years. He would finish for the second consecutive week in a tie for 7th, which proved not to be enough as Justin Thomas finished second to Xander Schauffele to take the season-long title and the $10m prize, as well as the 2017 PGA Tour Player of the Year. Spieth did take the Vardon Trophy and Byron Nelson Award for the second time in his career for leading the tour in scoring average.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: A third Presidents Cup victory would follow, as Spieth was part of the United States team which comfortably defended their title. Following a near two-month break, Spieth headed to Australia looking for a third Australian Open title in four years. He finished in 8th place after a final round of 67 (his best round of the tournament).


title: Jordan Spieth

text: For the second consecutive year, Spieth began his season by competing in both tournaments during the Hawaii swing, finishing 9th at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and in a tie for 18th at the Sony Open in Hawaii (he would make the longest putt of his career (90'8") during the second round), before missing the cut at the Phoenix Open and finishing in a tie for 20th as the defending champion at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: In February, Spieth was announced as the PGA Tour's Chairman of the Player Advisory Council, succeeding Davis Love III. The 16-member panel consults with the PGA Tour's Policy Board and commissioner Jay Monahan on issues affecting the tour; Spieth will serve a three-year term (2019–2021). On the course, Spieth had been having struggles with his putting at the beginning of the year, but a tie for 9th at the Genesis Open left him feeling optimistic about his game, stating: "I putted extremely well this week, which is awesome. I feel great about the state of my game going forward." A tie for 14th would follow at the WGC-Mexico Championship.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: A month away from the Masters Tournament, Spieth was hoping to kick-start his season at the Valspar Championship, where he was victorious in 2015, which led on to his magnificent year with his win at Augusta, as well as the U.S. Open. However, Spieth's difficult campaign continued, missing the cut at +5. His next start at the WGC Match Play saw him seeded 4th. He was victorious over Charl Schwartzel and Li Haotong, but was defeated by Ryder Cup playing partner Patrick Reed in their winner-takes-all final match, which meant Spieth failed to progress out of the group stage. In his final event before Augusta, Spieth finished in a tie for 3rd at the Houston Open.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth began the Masters with a six-under par round of 66 (including five consecutive birdies on holes 13–17), giving him a two-shot lead, meaning for the third time in four years, he would lead the opening major of the year after the first round. Entering the final round at −5, he was nine strokes behind leader Patrick Reed. He tied the best final round score in Masters history, shooting an 8-under 64. He missed a par putt on the 18th hole to tie the tournament record score (63, −9). He finished at −13, in third place, two strokes behind the champion Reed.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: In his first start after Augusta, Spieth, playing alongside Ryan Palmer at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, missed the cut. For the first time since his debut at the event in 2014, Spieth made the cut at The Players Championship and shot a personal best round of 65 during the third round, leaving him on course for a possible top-10 finish. However, a 2-over-par final round of 74 (including a quadruple bogey on the 72nd hole) left him at −6 for the tournament and in a tie for 41st. A tie for 21st at the AT&T Byron Nelson and a tie for 32nd at the Fort Worth Invitational would follow. In his final start before the U.S. Open, Spieth would miss the cut at the Memorial Tournament.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth missed the cut at the U.S. Open by a shot, the first time he had not made the cut at a major championship since the 2014 PGA Championship. The following week, Spieth began the defense of his Travelers Championship title with a 7−under−par round of 63, which included 6 birdies and an eagle. He couldn't replicate that form for the rest of the tournament, and finished in a tie for 42nd at −4.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: After a month off from competition, Spieth's next start came at The Open at Carnoustie, where he was the defending champion and looking for his first win since his third major title a year earlier. He was seeking to join Tiger Woods, Bobby Jones and Young Tom Morris as the only players to have won at least four majors before age 25. His defense began with a 1-over-par round of 72, but he moved into contention over the next couple of days, with a bogey-free Saturday round of 65 moving him into a tie for the lead with fellow Americans Xander Schauffele and Kevin Kisner. However, Spieth shot 76 on Sunday, with no birdies on his card, tumbling into a tie for ninth at −4, finishing four shots behind the champion Francesco Molinari.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth finished in a tie for 60th in his next start at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, before a second attempt to complete the career grand slam at the PGA Championship saw him finish in a tie for 12th.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: During the FedEx Cup Playoffs, Spieth finished in a tie for 25th at The Northern Trust, before a tied 12th finish at the Dell Technologies Championship. A tie for 55th finish at the BMW Championship left Spieth 31st in the FedEx Cup standings. With only the top-30 qualifying for the Tour Championship, it meant for the first time in his career, Spieth would miss the final event of the season, leaving him without a victory in the 2017–18 season.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth played in all five sessions of the Ryder Cup, collecting three points alongside Justin Thomas, but Europe would regain the trophy in Paris.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: In his first start of the 2018-19 PGA Tour season, Spieth finished tied 55th at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He would then miss the cut at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, meaning for the first time in his professional career, Spieth had gone an entire calendar year without a victory worldwide.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth began 2019 by missing the cut by a shot at the Sony Open in Hawaii, before finishing in a tie for 35th at the Farmers Insurance Open. A tie for 45th followed at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am; Spieth had been a shot off the lead at the halfway point, but over-par rounds over the weekend saw him fall down the leaderboard.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: In February 2019, Spieth entered the final round of the Genesis Open in a tie for fourth. However, brisk conditions and gusty winds left him with a final round 81. His scorecard featured a double bogey on No. 2, a triple bogey on No. 5 where he three-putted from 4 feet and a quadruple-bogey 8 on the treacherous 10th hole after nearly driving the green. A tie for 54th followed at the WGC-Mexico Championship. For the fourth time in five years, Spieth missed the cut at the Players Championship, before exiting in the round robin stages at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and then finishing in a tie for 30th at the Valero Texas Open.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: His sixth appearance at The Masters saw Spieth's worst finish at Augusta, a tie for 21st at five under par. After a tie for 54th finish at the RBC Heritage and a tie for 29th finish at the AT&T Byron Nelson, Spieth headed to Bethpage Black and the PGA Championship for his third attempt at the Career Grand Slam. He would fall short, finishing six shots behind defending champion Brooks Koepka, but his tie for 3rd result saw his first top-10 finish of 2019 (and his first since the 2018 Open Championship) and his best result since finishing 3rd at the previous year's Masters. Another top-10 finish followed a week later at the Charles Schwab Challenge, finishing in a tie for 8th and his upward trend in form continued with a tie for 7th finish at the Memorial Tournament.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth finished tied for 65th at the U.S. Open, before missing the cut at the Travelers Championship. In the final major of the year, The Open, Spieth finished in a tie for 20th. After a tie for 12th at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, Spieth missed the secondary cut at the Wyndham Championship. In the FedEx Cup Playoffs, a tie for 37th at the BMW Championship and a tie for 6th at The Northern Trust left Spieth 44th in the rankings, meaning for the second consecutive season, he missed the Tour Championship and had failed to win an event.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: The start of Spieth's 2019–20 PGA Tour season came at the CJ Cup in South Korea, where he finished in a tie for 8th. It was not to be the beginning of a return to form as poor results followed and at the end of January, after finishing tied for 55th place in the Farmers Insurance Open, he fell outside the top 50 in the world rankings for the first time since his first season on tour.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: In June 2020, Spieth finished tied for 10th at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, after maintaining a lead for most of the third round. Spieth then finished tied for 68th at RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and tied for 54th at the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut. Spieth next played in the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, where he missed his second cut of the season.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: Spieth began the year with a missed cut at the Farmers Insurance Open. The following week, at the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale, he opened the tournament with back-to-back 4-under-par 67s, before tying his career low round with a 10-under par 61 on Saturday to tie for the lead with Xander Schauffele heading into the final round. On Sunday, Spieth returned a 1-over par 72 to finish two strokes behind winner Brooks Koepka. Spieth's third appearance of 2021 came at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he again failed to convert the 54-hole lead, finishing in a tie for third place. In his next three starts, Spieth finished in ties for 15th, 4th, and 48th places at the Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, and The Players Championship.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: In his eighth start of the season, Spieth won the Valero Texas Open with rounds of 67-70-67-66, to end a 1,351-day spell without a victory. He followed this victory with a third place finish in the Masters. Following the Masters, Spieth took four weeks off, during which he contracted and recovered from COVID-19, and switched to the 2021 model of the Pro V1X golf ball. In July 2021, Spieth was runner-up at The Open Championship, two shots behind winner Collin Morikawa. In September 2021, Spieth played on the U.S. team in the 2021 Ryder Cup; he won one, lost 2 and tied one of his matches.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: On April 17, 2022, Spieth won his 13th PGA Tour title, when he achieved victory at the RBC Heritage, defeating Patrick Cantlay in a playoff having overturned a 3 stroke deficit to third round leader, Harold Varner III.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: In September 2022, Spieth was selected to play on the U.S. team in the 2022 Presidents Cup; he won all five of his matches, including four partnered with Justin Thomas.


title: Jordan Spieth

text: His grandfather, Donald Spieth, is a music teacher at Moravian College and Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he was a long-time conductor of the former Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra. Jordan has two younger siblings, Steven and Ellie. Steven played college basketball and played for the Dallas Mavericks 2017 NBA Summer League team. Ellie has grown up with disabilities, and Jordan has credited her with "keeping him grounded and focused as well as keeping the game of golf in perspective."


title: Jordan Spieth

text: On January 2, 2018, Spieth confirmed his engagement to long-time girlfriend, Annie Verret. The two married in November 2018 in Dallas. On September 3, 2021, Spieth announced that he and his wife were expecting their first child in November. Their son, Sammy Spieth was born on November 14, 2021.