Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/July 21 to 27, 2024

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (July 21 to 27, 2024)

Prepared with commentary by Igordebraga, Vestrian24Bio, I am RedoStone, CAWylie

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It's the return of two popular topics, superhero movies and the Olympic Games. And one that makes people seek refuge in those two, American politics.

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Kamala Harris	8,356,964	Just after we had a major Trump headline last week, this time we have a major Biden (#4) headline, as last Sunday, he officially withdrew from the upcoming presidential election (#9) in which he was campaigning for his second term inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. So his vice president is the new presumptive nominee for the Democrats, with the party's official stance being that her candidacy will only be confirmed in the 2024 Democratic National Convention on August 7. Harris would be the second woman (after Hillary Clinton) and the second person of color (after Barack Obama) sent to the presidential race.
2	Deadpool & Wolverine	2,891,328	This year Marvel is releasing only one film. Last time this happened was in 2012 with The Avengers, and again it's with a movie that had a lot of anticipation with the ongoing events. Ever since Endgame the MCU has been faultering, as aside from Shang-Chi, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 the movies split opinions, lose money, or both. Adding the firing of Jonathan Majors really put the MCU's future at question... there are even those who think a soft reboot is necessary to make things work again. But, the X-Men franchise whose original film run ended with a two-part whimper offered something to build upon. There are some fan theories that say starting with phase 7 there might be a Mutant Saga targeting the X-Men characters! Wolverine and Deadpool were the two Mutants who got solo movies. So a team-up of both (the first time barely counts) downright led the film's teaser having Deadpool in his usual breaking the fourth wall self stating that MCU is about to change forever, while also calling himself "Marvel Jesus", the franchise's savior! The story has the Time Variance Authority introduced in the Disney+ show Loki threatening to destroy the X-Men filmverse because it lost its "anchor" with Wolverine dying. So Deadpool engages in some multiversal shenanigans to find another Logan, settling on a particularly embittered and traumatized Wolverine who is easily enraged by the Merc with a Mouth. Eventually the story also serves to give a send-off to the pre-MCU films (plenty of surprises) and even throw a bone to a movie that was cancelled. Just like the film's teaser said– Everyone deserves a happy ending. Deadpool & Wolverine was finally released last Friday after delays due to 2023 Hollywood labor disputes and opened to positive reception with an expected opening weekend of over $400 million worldwide. MCU honcho Kevin Feige himself stated during the film's Red Carpet that this is just the beginning of "A New Mutant Era in MCU". And right after its US release the film had its own panel at SDCC 2024, complete with a cool drone show. The following day, Marvel had its annual SDCC H-panel confirming future projects - the Russo brothers that made two beloved Captain America and Avengers movies are set for the fifth and sixth Avengers! And the fifth, which would be The Kang Dynasty and feature Majors as its main villain, was now Avengers: Doomsday, with Robert Downey Jr. returning to the MCU, now as Doctor Doom! What a week it has been for Marvel fans!
3	JD Vance	2,042,487	The Ohio senator with quite the background, including four years in the Marines, graduating in both Ohio State University and Yale Law School, and writing best-selling autobiography Hillbilly Elegy (already adapted into a quite derided film), was chosen by Donald Trump to be his running mate. His political positions and quotes soon caused a ruckus, particularly a past claim that "we are effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too."
4	Joe Biden	1,557,573	He entered the White House as the oldest president ever, and was showing signs that age and health were not optimal for another four years, including a bad showing at a debate, and two gaffes in introducing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "President Putin" (the guy he's been fighting for too long), and referring to #1 as "Vice President Trump" (the guy he beat at the election). So a bout of COVID-19 made Biden resign his candidacy and just support his vice #1 in the presidential race.
5	Doug Emhoff	1,452,523	As usual, politicians bring views for their families. First, #1's husband, a lawyer and father of her two stepchildren. Afterwards, her father, an economist born in Jamaica that moved to the US in the 1960s. (and yes, it's ironic that he has the same name and middle initial as upcoming adversary #15).
6	Donald J. Harris	1,407,691
7	Project 2025	1,397,914	An initiative to redo the United States in an authoritarian, autocratic and conservative manner in case the Republicans return to the White House next year. Trump has tried to distance itself from it, but many Project 2025 contributors expected to get leadership roles if he's elected and the plan mentions his name 300 times.
8	2024 Summer Olympics	1,320,848	The Games of the 33rd Olympiad hosted by Paris were opened last Friday by the French President Emmanuel Macron (albeit the previous two days had games from a few team sports, including football, handball, and rugby). The event is taking place amidst various concerns and controversies including that of Israel–Hamas war and Russian invasion of Ukraine with a police assistance from 46 countries. Also, this edition marks the debut of breakdancing as an Olympic sport.
9	2024 United States presidential election	1,313,460	Easily a subject that will dominate the next months, to the dread even of people outside the country. At least unlike 2020 it won't be a dispute between two old men given #1 will replace #4.
10	Mark Kelly	1,272,729	With the vice-president (#1) promoted to presidential candidate, a running mate will be necessary. One front-runner is astronaut, Navy Captain and current Arizona senator Mark Kelly.
11	Kimberly Cheatle	1,125,399	Seeing a nutcase invade a campaign rally and shoot the candidate (#15) is not a good look for the Secret Service. The branch's director Kimberly Cheatle acknowledged it was an "unacceptable" failure, and following public scrutiny and a hearing at the Committee on Oversight and Accountability decided to resign from her post.
12	Josh Shapiro	1,071,586	Another possible running mate for #1 is the current Governor of Pennsylvania. Given it was the state where the above mentioned shooting happened, Shapiro made sure to note the one casualty of the event, an engineer hit by a stray bullet trying to protect his family, "died a hero" and flew the flags at half-mast in his honor.
13	Shyamala Gopalan	1,057,783	After the father (#6), #1's late mother, an Indian biomedical scientist who left at the age of 19 to California, where she eventually helped research the hormones pertaining to breast cancer.
14	Celine Dion	1,054,318	This Canadian singer was a performer at the opening ceremony of #8. She sang the Édith Piaf song "Hymne à l'amour" from the first level of the Eiffel Tower as the closing act after the Olympic cauldron was lit by Teddy Riner and Marie-José Pérec. This was her first performance since her diagnosis of Stiff-person syndrome in December 2022.
15	Donald Trump	1,025,153	As mentioned above, this guy was targeted during a rally, and the resulting injury has led fans at the 2024 Republican National Convention ("the worst thing to happen to Milwaukee since Jeffrey Dahmer!") to imitate him with fake ear bandages. It has already been noted that #9 will be quite an election when the candidates are a former prosecutor (#1) and a convicted felon.
16	Deaths in 2024	992,185	I found my mind, I'm feelin' sane It's been a while, but I'm findin' my faith If everything's good and it's great Why do I sit and wait till it's gone?
17	List of Olympic Games host cities	790,963	The 33rd Summer Olympics (#8) and overall the 57th Olympics is being hosted in Paris, France. Paris joins London as the second city to host three Summer Olympics, previously doing so in 1900 and 1924 (and the 2028 edition will add a third three-timer in Los Angeles). France has also hosted three Winter Olympics previously in 1924, 1968, 1992, and will also host the 2030 Winter Olympics.
18	Twisters (film)	759,863	Twister is what has been described as a "forgotbuster", a blockbuster that ended up not leaving much of a legacy as the most remembered thing outside tornado-related destruction is a flying cow. Few would've expected a sequel nearly 30 years later. And yet theaters have just received Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell as two storm chasers, one a meteorologist trying to research tornadoes, and the other a thrill-seeking YouTuber trying to get views by filming inside the storms. Twisters was praised for again featuring an impressive showcase of nature's fury along with a likable cast, and somehow doesn't try to simply copy or reference what the original did like many Hollywood sequels. It had a strong opening in the U.S. box office with $80 million, and if its earnings don't fall much in spite of #2's arrival the hefty $200 million budget should soon be recouped.
19	House of the Dragon	710,380	The second season of this award-winning prequel series to Game of Thrones premiered a month ago and has been releasing a new episode every Monday on HBO, gathering plenty of views both for its episodes and its Wikipedia article, which now returns to the Top 25 list after being pushed out last week by all the political drama.
20	Family of Kamala Harris	665,290	An overall article on #1's next of kin, with the picture to the left having her with sister Maya Harris. Given it doesn't include biological children (only two stepchildren from #5's previous marriage) and Kamala has some outspoken views regarding abortion and gestation, it should be a talking point all through the campaign.
21	Xander Schauffele	662,314	It's not uncommon (the last time was in 2018), but this American golfer won his second major championship in as many months: first, the PGA Championship in May and then the Open Championship on July 21 (by two strokes and bogey free).
22	Usha Vance	649,529	#3's wife, mother of his three children and that like #1 is a Californian lawyer of Indian descent.
23	Andy Beshear	648,172	Another possible running mate for #1 in the current Governor of Kentucky.
24	Kalki 2898 AD	620,345	This Telugu language epic science fiction film released a month ago still continues its theatrical run with a so far gross of ₹1,100 crore (US$130 million) and its already the highest-grossing Indian film of 2024 and the 6th highest-grossing Indian film of all time.
25	Pete Buttigieg	615,515	Finishing it off is the current Secretary of Transportation and former mayor of South Bend, Indiana who was one of the Democrats in the 2020 candidate race before leaving it all to #4, and like some of the names above is considered a possible running mate for #1 this year. Pairing a woman of color with a gay man is certain to make the opposition scream in horror!