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"Star Trek Into Darkness" director J.J. Abrams has countered charges that a scene of actress Alice Eve in her underwear is sexist -- by offering up a "deleted" scene of the villain played by Benedict Cumberbatch taking a shower.

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Ever since it first showed up in a "Star Trek Into Darkness" trailer, a shot of British actress Alice Eve -- who plays Dr. Carol Marcus in the movie -- in her underwear has been a lightning rod for criticism. The shot was added to the trailer, critics said, purely as bait for teen males.

Related: Who's who in 'Star Trek Into Darkness'

Seeing the shot in the context of the movie itself doesn't dispel that accusation at all, and in fact, strengthens it. Whether you think the flash of Eve's flesh is sexist or not, the truth is that it is completely gratuitous -- there is literally no reason for Marcus, who is having a conversation with Kirk inside a smaller ship, to begin shedding her clothes, except as a pathetic attempt on the part of the filmmakers to throw some eye candy to male viewers.

Screenwriter Damon Lindelof has already offered a half-hearted apology for the scene, and while Abrams didn't apologize, he semi-defended it on "Conan" by pointing to a scene earlier in the film in which Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) appears shirtless. He also provided a clip of an allegedly "deleted" scene showing villain Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) shirtless and in the shower (via Slashfilm):

There's two things wrong with this: first, Kirk is shirtless for a reason -- he's getting out of bed after romping with a couple of women, which is totally in character for everyone's favorite space womanizer. Second, the Cumberbatch scene -- which, if you ask us, looks like it was created solely for "Conan" -- was left out of the movie, while the Eve scene wasn't. 

So an unnecessary scene of a bare-chested male actor was removed, but one of a scantily clad young actress wasn't? 

Here's the thing: we don't for a minute actually think that J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof or co-screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are sexist. But the scene of Eve stripping, which feels so awkward even as you're watching it, comes across as just another ill-advised attempt to cater to a specific section of the audience in a movie riddled with them. 

Yes, the original "Star Trek" series had more than its share of women in skimpy costumes -- but that was the '60s, the women didn't start stripping for no apparent reason, and even then the show was doing it best to be more forward-thinking than most of the fare of its time (Badass Digest has posted a terrific piece with more on this).

So what do you think? Is the Eve underwear scene gratuitous and sexist? If it does nothing to advance the plot or her character, should it have been left out? Would the inclusion of the Khan shower scene have balanced things out? Tell us at MSN Movies on Facebook and Twitter.

Two upcoming films based on Marvel comics -- "The Avengers 2" and "X-Men: Days of Future Past" -- will feature the same character despite being made by two separate studios. How is this possible?

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The character in question is Quicksilver, a mutant who, with his sister Scarlet Witch, is the offspring of evil mutant leader Magneto in the Marvel Comics universe. Both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch originated in the "X-Men" comics, yet also crossed over and spent time as members of the Avengers, which is how Joss Whedon recently confirmed that the "brother/sister act," as he called them, would appear in "The Avengers 2," made by Marvel Studios/Disney.

But now director Bryan Singer, who is making "X-Men: Days of Future Past" for 20th Century Fox (which owns the "X-Men" film rights), has thrown a potential wrench in the works with this tweet: "Before he was an Avenger, he was just a REALLY fast kid. Thrilled to say Evan Peters is joining 'X-Men: Days Of Future Past' as Quicksilver."

Peters, in case you don't know, is one of the stars of "American Horror Story" and is a solid enough actor. But how can the two movies use the same character without getting into all kinds of legal issues?

Somehow, because they're involved with the X-Men and are also part of the Avengers, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch can legally be used by both. Here's what Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige told Superhero Hype: "There's a specific arrangement with those two characters that would allow us to use them with 'Avengers,' but not discuss or reference their mutant or Magneto-related lineage. They can use them as mutants and as Magneto's relatives, but cannot have anything to do with 'The Avengers.'"

So while it does make sense that the siblings could show up in both stories, Singer's tweet -- especially the part about "Before he was an Avenger" -- feels a little like provocation, especially coming so soon after Whedon's revelation. 

Is this an attempt on his and Fox's part to get under Marvel/Disney's skin a bit by using this character (and getting him to the screen a year earlier)? Was he just written in now to accomplish this? After all, why didn't we hear about him being in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" before? The thing's been in production for a little while now.

The other question is now whether Whedon will rewrite "The Avengers 2" and drop Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch from his story, or just ignore the Fox version of the character. 

This is the problem facing Marvel: while the studio owns literally thousands of characters, three of its biggest names -- the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man -- belong to other studios, who certainly have no intention of giving them back at this stage. The fact that these two characters also belong to Marvel Studios as well is an anomaly.

Here's an idea: could the two studios come to some sort of agreement and allow Peters to play the role in both movies? Would that be a cool, fan-centric way of acknowleding the entire scope of the Marvel Universe on film? It's a nice thing to think about, but we won't hold our breath.

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The third season of "American Horror Story" has added Emma Roberts to its ever-expanding cast. Roberts is set to play what TV Line called "a self-involved party girl by the name of Madison."

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Roberts is no stranger to the horror genre, having appeared in "Scream 4" for director Wes Craven. That movie's lack of success didn't exactly lead to "Scream 5" getting off the ground, but Roberts must have a feel for the genre since she's joining creator Ryan Murphy's nightmarish FX program.

The actual title for season 3 is "American Horror Story: Coven" and the cast now includes series regulars Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe, Frances Conroy, Taissa Farmiga and Evan Peters (Roberts' real-life boyfriend), along with newcomers Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Patti LuPone and Gabourey Sidibe.

As you might guess from that title, the new season will almost certainly have something to do with witches, and reports say that the show will begin shooting in New Orleans this summer. 

A new "Pacific Rim" featurette has been posted online in which director Guillermo Del Toro and members of the cast lay out the meaning of what the movie calls "The Drift."

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Basically, the towering robots known as Jaegers, constructed to defend the Earth against the equally gigantic kaiju monsters from another dimension, are driven by human pilots whose minds and bodies are linked directly to the machines. But because the sheer size and power of the Jaegers can essentially burn out someone's brain, each robot requires two pilots.

Those two pilots, however, must also be mentally linked as well. The space in which their two minds meld -- where one cannot hide anything from the other, including memories -- is called "The Drift."

We'll let Del Toro and his cast elaborate further in the video below, which also contains plenty of epic footage from this jumbo-sized sci-fi epic. 

"Pacific Rim" is out in theaters Friday, July 12.

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"Fast & Furious 6" promises to be the most spectacular and insane of the bunch, so we'd like to offer up a little tribute with this list of horror and sci-fi movies on wheels (and let's be honest, we'd like some of that "Fast and Furious" Web traffic, too). Hop on board and come with us for the ride ...

"Duel" (1971): This early Steven Spielberg thriller was made for television but was later expanded for theatrical release in Europe. Dennis Weaver plays a traveling salesman who is caught in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with a massive tanker and its unseen driver, who seems intent on running Weaver to his death. Based on a story by Richard Matheson, this gripping and lean shocker will keep you watching the rear view mirror the next time you're on a lonely road.

"Horror Express" (1972): We're going to jump briefly from cars and trucks to trains for this Spanish-British production that put Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas on the Trans-Siberian Express with an ancient frozen ape creature that is actually the hiding place of an alien entity from another galaxy. By the time it starts turning everyone on the speeding locomotive into zombies, you'll be hooked by this wild, over-the-top horror/sci-fi/runawa​y train mashup.

"Death Race 2000" (1975): Roger Corman produced this now-classic sci-fi satire, set in a future fascist America where the annual Transcontinental Road Race provides the ultimate in violent reality TV to keep the masses distracted. The more pedestrians you kill, the more points you acquire. Crashes and chases ensue -- and all of it seems eerily plausible these days.

"Race With the Devil" (1975): Two couples accidentally stumble upon a satanic ritual and are pursued in their RV across Texas by the cult. Peter Fonda and Warren Oates are the menfolk, Loretta Swit and Lara Parker are the ladies, and the movie builds a decent amount of tension while also delivering some knockout chase scenes.

"The Car" (1977): Notice how a lot of these movies are from the '70s, when films based around autos were very popular? "The Car" is as simple as it gets: A black Lincoln Continental begins laying waste to the citizens of a small Utah town. Why? It's possessed by a demon, silly. James Brolin plays the lawman tasked with stopping the infernal machine. Look for future "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" sisters Kyle and Kim Richards as his daughters.

"Damnation Alley" (1977): This cheesy post-apocalyptic film was based loosely on a novel by sci-fi great Roger Zelazny and follows four men as they travel in 12-wheeled Landmasters across "Damnation Alley," the devastated heartland of what was once America that is now populated by freakish weather and giant mutated insects. The Landmasters almost outshine the actors -- Jan-Michael Vincent, George Peppard, Paul Winfield and others -- in one of two sci-fi films released in 1977 by 20th Century Fox. This one was supposed to be the hit. The other? "Star Wars."

"Mad Max" (1979) and "The Road Warrior" (1981): Australian director George Miller delivered some of the finest action sequences of their time in these brilliant first two entries in the "Mad Max" trilogy, starring a young Mel Gibson as a cop who lives through the collapse of society to become a near-mythic hero. The slamming automobile action in "Mad Max" paved the way for the climactic extended chase in the second film, surely one of the greatest in modern cinema.

"Maximum Overdrive" (1986): When the director -- who happened to be Stephen King -- calls his own picture a "moron movie," you know you're in for either a painful sit or an enjoyably bad time. Sadly, "Maximum Overdrive," which first-time (and only-time) director King based on his short story "Trucks," leans closer to the former. The idea of trucks, cars and other vehicles and machines coming to life and coming for us is a fun one, but King just sends it all into the ditch.

"Drive Angry" (2011): Car-chase movies with a supernatural or sci-fi slant dropped off the pop culture radar for a long time, but director Patrick Lussier and star Nicolas Cage tried to bring them back with this 3-D exercise, which does feature some well-staged automobile action but an ultimately dull story. Cage does the same loony schtick he's been doing for the past decade, while William Fichtner races off with the picture as the demonic Accountant.