Iranian and US forces have reportedly engaged in another spat in the Persian Gulf as tensions between the two countries heat up following the US Congress’s approval of new sanctions against Iran. A US Navy aircraft carrier fired a warning shot in an “unprofessional” confrontation with Iranian vessels, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard told a state news agency in the country. The USS Nimitz and an accompanying ship came near an Iranian offshore oil platform in the Persian Gulf, and a helicopter from the ship hovered near vessels manned by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard, the Islamic Republic News Agency said.

True Believers, we’ve hit episode 300 on This Week in Marvel, the official Marvel podcast! And we do it all for you!

Ryan gives you the scoop on all of this week’s latest comics releases including CAPTAIN AMERICA: SAM WILSON, EDGE OF VENOMVERSE, and STAR WARS: DOCTOR APHRA, and tons more! Marc and Christine dish out massive news from the world of TV, film and games (1:22:36). While Ryan and Ben have an awesome special talk with Fabian Nicieza about X-Cutioner’s Song (1:32:20). We close everything out with your questions and comments (2:03:43)!

[Editor’s Note: We had some technical issues during the recording of this episode; we’re sorry for any inconvenience.]

Download episode #300 of This Week in Marvel from Marvel.com, check out Marvel Podcast Central, grab the TWiM RSS feed and subscribe to This Week in Marvel on iTunes, so you never miss an episode! We are now also on Soundcloud! Head over now to our new hub to listen to the full run of This Week in Marvel!

This Week in Marvel will focus on delivering all the Marvel info on news and new releases–from comics to video games to toys to TV to film and beyond! New episodes will be released every Thursday (or so) and TWiM is co-hosted by Marvel VP & Executive Editor of Digital Media Ryan “Agent M” Penagos and Marvel Editorial Director of Digital Media Ben Morse, along with Marvel.com Editor Marc Strom, Marvel.com Assistant Editor Christine Dinh, and Manager of Video & Content Production Blake Garris. We also want your feedback, as well as questions for us to answer on future episodes!  Tweet your questions, comments and thoughts about TWiM to @AgentM, @BenJMorse, @chrissypedia or @Marvel with the hashtag #ThisWeekinMarvel!

Every Friday we use the powers of Marvel Unlimited to look back at the very first appearance of a major character, place or object that made waves this week.

Back in 2014, the Marvel Universe experienced a new flame-headed traveler for vengeance! ALL-NEW GHOST RIDER #1–by Felipe Smith and Tradd Moore–introduced the world to Robbie Reyes, a character who would go on to appear in both “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and this week’s EDGE OF VENOMVERSE #3.

All-New Ghost Rider (2014) #1

• Published: March 26, 2014
• Added to Marvel Unlimited: September 22, 2014
• Cover Artist: Tradd Moore

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What is Marvel Unlimited?

Though symbiote-covered now, Reyes began his comic book career as a high schooler with a mechanic job he used to help raise his wheelchair-assisted brother. One night, he borrowed one of the cars from the shop to do a little fund raising by way of an illegal race and wound up on the wrong end of a mercenary squad.

Riddled with bullets, Robbie fell back expecting to die. Instead, the Spirit of Vengeance–who introduced himself as Eli–saved him as well as the car and returned them both to their homes.

We eventually learned that the car itself belonged to a local gangster named Grumpy whose people stole a bag of pink pills that were created by Calvin Zabo, the alter-ego of one Mr. Hyde! The drugs turn users into rampaging monsters.

After taking care of both Grumpy and Hyde, Reyes’ fiery exploits attracted the attention of Johnny Blaze who wanted to know about this new Ghost Rider.

Eventually Robbie learned the truth, that he wasn’t actually the next Spirit of Vengeance, but that his dead, Satanist uncle Eli Morrow had possessed him. He still exhibited many of the traditional Ghost Rider abilities, but existed as something else entirely.

Robbie appeared in the Secret Wars series GHOST RACERS and most recently in his second solo GHOST RIDER series!

Flash Forward

As mentioned above, in addition to packing the comic page with action, Robbie Reyes also made the jump to the small screen. Debuting on “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” in the fourth season, the character played by Gabriel Luna looks very similar to his comic book counterpart. Their origins remain somewhat similar as well, though he and his brother Gabe got gunned down in the TV series, which brought the Ghost Rider into his life. Thinking he sold his soul to a devil, Robbie worked to not only exact revenge on the people who hurt him and his brother, but also do some good in the world. That included making some sacrifices at the end of the season that revolved around the Darkhold, but we don’t want to get into too many spoilers here!

Each week, we use our super sleuth skills to dig into the histories of the characters fighting on both sides of Secret Empire!

Surviving Secret Wars and making his way into the 616 Universe may have seemed like the best possible thing for former Ultimate Universe denizen Miles Morales, but then Civil War II broke out and a bomb got dropped on him.

In CIVIL WAR II, Spider-Man witness one of Ulysses’ future-visions which saw him holding an impaled Captain America on the Capital steps in Washington, D.C. Ever since, he’s been understandably shaken.

Of course, everything notched up a level when Steve Rogers revealed his true colors veered more towards Hydra green than U.S.A. red, white and blue as Secret Empire kicked off.

The Champion fought bravely at the first battle of Washington, D.C., but soon fell back with his teammates and became part of the resistance. In SECRET EMPIRE #1, he and the other Champions helped save Rayshaun Lucas and get information from Rick Jones.

In the following issue, Black Widow split off from the others, knowing that Steve Rogers could not be saved and needed killing. As she made her exit, Miles stopped her and offered his services, feeling that he would be the one to kill Cap anyway. Initially she denied his offer of help until the other Champions showed up. Then she brought them all in and began giving them Red Room training.

Meanwhile, over in SECRET EMPIRE UPRISING #1, Morales and his teammates helped infiltrate the Hydra Youth Choir which allowed Black Widow to get Viper to join their side. As seen in SECRET EMPIRE #5, the group also helped acquire an old man in a hospital bed who, as we saw in SECRET EMPIRE #7, turned out to be Mosaic!

Before discovering that, though, Miles helped keep the Champions together in #6, convincing the Wasp to stay while also talking to Widow about their views on whether Steve Rogers remained save-able or not.

The actual targeting of Rogers came in SECRET EMPIRE #7 as Widow literally took aim at him while using Mosaic to take over the nearby Hydra troops and the Champions to fill their various roles. Though Black Widow tried holding Miles back from the action, he escaped and did wind up confronting Captain America on those famous steps.

Miles fought well, but that didn’t stop Cap from killing Black Widow in the process. In his rage, Miles achieved the upper hand and stood over Rogers’ body, not far from the piece of jutting rock his vision told him he should impale the former her upon. Instead of giving into to supposed destiny, though, Morales let the Star Spangled Avenger live, even though it meant getting captured by Hydra.

The Empire Strikes Back

The end of SECRET EMPIRE #7 found another legacy hero reclaiming his place amongst his fellow costumed crusaders. As Miles Morales got locked up, alongside his fellow Champions, Sam Wilson donned his Captain America costume, lifted his own shield and declared that this battle had not yet ended. As we remember from a previous installment, Sam had given up hope in the Captain America name after Steve Rogers showed his Hydra allegiance, but now seems to be taking the name back and re-dedicating himself to acting as a symbol for justice and hope in one of the darkest times in the Marvel Universe!

Firefighters in Ohio were forced to cut off snake's neck to protect a woman.

Each week Star Wars Spotlight combs through the digital archives of Marvel Unlimited to showcase one classic story from that distant galaxy filled with Jedi, Sith, princesses, scoundrels and droids.

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” gave viewers plenty of new mysteries to mull over. Who are Rey’s parents? What more can Captain Phasma do? What’s Luke been doing all this time? And, of course, where’d C-3PO get that red arm?

We’ll have to wait for future film installments to get most of those answers, but James Robinson and Tony Harris–the team behind another star-themed book at the Distinguished Competition–answered the appendage conundrum in last year’s STAR WARS SPECIAL: C-3PO.

Star Wars Special: C-3PO (2016) #1

• Published: April 13, 2016
• Added to Marvel Unlimited: October 17, 2016
• Penciller: Tony Harris
• Cover Artist: Tradd Moore

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What is Marvel Unlimited?

The issue began with Threepio leading five other droids off of a downed ship. Though the others wondered who died and put him in charge–the answer being Captain Hoff and his whole crew–they begrudgingly followed ol’ goldenrod in their search for a homing device.

In addition to the current Droid Communication Chief for the Reesistance, the group also included rolling arsenal VL-44, military droid PZ-99, construction grunt CO-34, med bot 2MED2 and First Order protocol droid O-MR1. Though technically their prisoner, Omri agreed to help in order to save their digital lives and they set off to find a First Order homing beacon they planned on repurposing.

Before Hoff’s ship crashed, they had a very specific mission to complete: Save Admiral Ackbar. He’d been taken by the First Order who planned on getting every bit of information out of him before killing the legend. The Resistance believed that Omri held the Admiral’s  location in his memory banks and needed to keep him functional to get the information.

As the droids traversed the incredibly dangerous planet they found themselves dealing with everything from bot-eating spiders and super-deep tar to metal-eating acid rain.

Along the way, Threepio and Omri discussed some deep topics like loyalty, programming and memory. Omri said, “And yet for all you know, any one of you could have been serving the other side at some point. As droids, our memories are often wiped.”

Later, upon bringing the subject up again, C-3PO mentioned that he often felt flashes of memories, mostly events from the Prequels. He remained curious about them, but didn’t let their erasure drive him to turning against his human masters.

The journey to the beacon proved fatal for most of the droids, leaving just the two experts alive and Threepio minus his left arm. When they acid rain hit, they took shelter not far from the beacon. Though specifically not going against his programming, O-MR1 transmitted Ackbar’s coordinates to his companion. “I’m not choosing sides, I’m choosing friends,” he said before braving the acid rain to reprogram the beacon.

In the process, the rain stripped him down to his red primer. As he shambled back to the temporary shelter, Omri started falling apart, leaving just the left arm. Poe Dameron soon arrived and they used the coordinates to save Ackbar. Safely aboard a ship, Threepio sported that red arm for the first time. While talking to BB-8 he said, “You have no idea how this arm offends my aesthetic sensibilities. Nevertheless…I will keep it for a while. To remember.”

From the Jedi Temple Archives

Whether he knew it or not, C-3PO’s memories could have held many answers for Luke Skyalker and Leia Organa. As seen in “The Phantom Menace,” the droid came about in his current incarnation thanks to a young Anakin Skywalker’s tinkering on Tatooine, putting him together from spare parts. He soon found himself thrust into intergalactic activities thanks to the boy meeting Qui-Gon Jinn, Queen Amidala, Jar Jar Binks and R2-D2. He then took a major role in a series of adventures as seen in the Prequel films as well as the Clone Wars animated series. So, why didn’t he recognize Tatooine when he and Artoo landed there in “A New Hope?” Well, at the end of “Revenge of the Sith,” Leia’s adoptive father Bail Organa had the droid’s memory erased in an effort to keep her true lineage a secret. As seen in this special, though, some of those memories seem to rattle around in that golden dome of his to some extent.

Next week, Haden Blackman and Agustin Alessio offer a major challenge for the newly minted Sith Lord in DARTH VADER AND THE PRISON PLANET!