This episode is all over the place. But before we get to that, you need to know that this weekend, you can save 20% on your t-shirts at the Jittery Monkey Shop. Get those Nerds United shirts, take a picture, and share them with us.
This week, Mike and Greg talk about Brightburn, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Elizabeth Banks, IMDb, and Mike’s incredibly old sister.
If you need more info than that, you should probably just listen to the show. In fact, you should just listen to the show, period.
On this week’s episode, host @chadsmart is joined by Nerds United host Greg Mehochko and My 1-2-3 Cents host Kevin Hunsperger to discuss the rise of feminism in society.
The first half of the show focuses on the DC cinematic universe and whether Wonder Woman is actually a good movie or if it is given more leeway due to being the first female driven superhero movie.
Second half discussion looks at the online outrage of WWE’s recent first ever women’s Money in the Bank match.
Nerds United Episode 77: Game of Thrones, Castlevania, and Acting[ 20:54 | 28.71 MB ]Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (874)
All right kids, so here’s the new episode. It’s another road recording. And admittedly, it’s not nearly as thorough and complete as I’d like. But…it is what it is.
So earlier in the day, we received a trailer for Season 7 of HBO’s Game of Thrones. So I’m excited about that.
We also received a teaser trailer for a new project headed to Netflix later this year. And though I shared a different version on Facebook earlier in the day, well, I like this one more.
I take great issue with this, based just on the first two actors listed. But the point is this:
More blame should be levied on the director/producer than the actor portraying the role. And who are you as the author of that article to speak for everyone when calling those performances the most despised? Maybe they were more disappointing to you than other performances. But that’s more your fault based on your expectations of A abd receiving B.
But I digress. There’s more for me to get into on that subject, but that is – I think – more of a blog post when I have the time to disagree with most of the author’s points.
Some of the names listed above are great dads in comics and geek culture. Some are not great fathers. Others left lasting impressions on the children in their care in lives that were cut tragically short. Although, it goes without saying that without their sacrifices or untimely deaths, the heroes-to-be would not have materialized.
As I celebrate my first Father’s Day this year, I reflect more on the man I call “dad,” but it is fun to look at some of these genre dads and how they shaped some of the most important figures in pop culture.
I won’t go into detail on each name provided above (sorry Reed and Henry). But I did want to explore some of the father-son relationships.
From The Adventures of Superman #500 – Life After Death
The Martha’s (Wayne and Kent, respectively…also something fans had a major issue with in the final act of Batman V Superman) are touted as being so instrumental in the lives of their sons, and rightly so. But I think if you overlook the importance of Jonathon “Pa” Kent, you’re doing a disservice to the writers who gave him life and the actors who gave him breath. While I was initially thrilled about Kevin Costner’s casting, I didn’t care for the writing of Pa Kent in Man of Steel. But every other likeness has been far truer to the character (looking at you, John Schnieder) and enriched the mythos of Jonathon Kent as a morally strong man who believes his son is destined for great things. When Superman stood for “Truth, Justice, and the American Way,” you could hear those words being said by Pa Kent into a young Clark. “Live your life better than we have. Be better.” It’s why Superman is beloved as a figure in his fictional world and how he has stood the test of time as one of the most popular characters in culture for the last 77 years.
Norman Osborn and Uncle Ben Parker. The environments they create for their “children” makes all the difference when we see how Harry Osborn differs from Peter Parker. Even though Ben is Peter’s uncle, he serves as Pete’s guardian, and his final words will forever be linked to greatness, memed before memes were memes. “With great power comes great responsibility.” Six words that will echo into eternity. And because of the love and support Ben gave to young Peter, Peter, even though he wasn’t particularly popular, had the confidence to forge for himself a heroic life. Harry, poisoned by his father’s demons, would eventually don the glider as well.
Darth Vader’s revelation of his fatherhood to Luke Skywalker in Empire Strikes Back could go down in history as one of the biggest “OMG” moments in cinema history. And while their relationship was fleshed out a bit more in Return of the Jedi, it was Luke who sensed the good in Anakin and was able to bring him back from the Dark Side, as Vader tosses Emperor Palpatine into the pit, and thus bringing balance to the Force. I mean, you know all that already. Vader – not the best dad. But did get better.
One of the most interesting father-son relationships in comics to me has always been Thomas and Bruce Wayne. Tale as old as time – parents murdered in Crime Alley in front of young son. Son grows up to become Batman, vowing to clean up Gotham City. It was the loss he experienced that, in my opinion, made him want to ensure no other child of Gotham felt the pain he felt. What’s interesting is that in DC’s Flashpoint (Flashpoint Paradox, if you want the animated version), we see that Batman is Thomas Wayne, taking out his pain and anger in a much more brutal way (including guns). Also, in the Flashpoint story, Martha Wayne becomes the Joker, but who cares about that. Watch the end of the Flashpoint Paradox, after Barry runs back in time and corrects the timeline, and see the impact a father can have on a son.
You have an adult Bruce receiving a letter from his deceased father, a father who is writing a letter to his deceased son. And the man who walks runs between both worlds.
Me and the Old Man, when we were both much younger.
I’m grateful for my father. I’m thrilled I get to spend some time with him today and go golfing. I know many don’t have that opportunity. And my wife gets to spend some time with her dad. And before and after the golfing, I get to spend time with my son.
He’s almost six months old. We have a lot of time ahead of us, and I don’t want any of it to go to waste. If you’re wondering why I haven’t had a new episode of the podcast in almost two months…well, my boy’s getting bigger. He’s making sounds and sitting up and smiling and so happy. And I get to be here for all of that. Please don’t begrudge me for being away. I’m also in the process of moving.
But I promise I will be back. I am working on guests right now. I have some in mind, and need to reach out to a few more. And I do have thoughts I want to share. Kevin over at My 1-2-3 Cents blogs every day, runs every day, has a new episode of My 1-2-3 Cents the Podcast every week, and has three kids. (Also, Kevin told me his blog entries are between 300-500 words, and this is almost 1,000. I must learn to condense). So there’s some hope for me. I’ll find my groove again.
For years we heard “give Spider-Man back to Marvel.” Let’s face the facts...we hear the same for Fantastic Four, especially after last summer’s gamble that did not pay out. But as respected as comics’ first family is, Spidey is the most recognizable (or at least profitable) superhero in the world.Captain America: Civil War is where Spider-Man will make his Marvel movie debut after five Sony pictures that have been met with mixed reactions.
And we all know you can’t have Civil War without Peter Parker.
See? I told you. (A pivotal scene from Civil War #2)
Here’s the thing – there’s no way they’ll be telling this portion of the story in Captain America III. It has nothing to do with Spider-Man being an established in the Marvel Universe. It revolves primarily around the story Marvel wants to tell in Civil War.
The trailer (shown below) opens with Steve Rogers speaking over some images of the Winter Soldier. Cap is talking about the hazards of the job. Then you see news footage or damage assessment from the events of The Avengers, Captain America: Winter Soldier, and Avengers 2. The events lead the bureaucrat to exclaim that “People are afraid.”
Enter Tony Stark, who as he does in the comic book, is a champion for regulation and oversight. “We need to be put in check.”
So there you have it…#TeamCap vs #TeamIronMan.
Now we don’t know how Spider-Man enters into the movie, exactly. We know how he enters this scene:
But is there a scene before this where Tony Stark goes and recruits Peter Parker to the cause? I imagine there would have to be. Or as Ricky Ricardo would say “Lucy, you got some ‘splaining to do.” They’d be retconning the crap out of that. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m certain the characters in the MCU are aware of Spider-Man. They might wonder where he was during “the event” in New York City a few years prior. But you catch my drift.
I get the feeling based on what little we’ve seen that perhaps Spider-Man is a “diamond in the rough” type of discovery by Tony Stark. That’s a stark (pun intended) contrast to the comic, where of course Spider-Man was a long-time character whom everyone knew. In the events leading up to Civil War, and in the story itself, Peter Parker/Spider-Man works for Tony Stark/Iron Man. Stark rewards Peter with the Iron Spider suit.
Not even close.
(Artist: Guile Michael Turner)
I always perceived that Peter Parker as sort of a pawn in Stark’s agenda. Cooperate and you get to keep the shiny toy.
Something always struck me odd about that pairing. I always felt that Peter was no longer an autonomous hero who does things his way, but someone who had to answer to a higher authority. In short, a microcosm for the entire Civil War story-line. The role of the government and the registration act is played by Tony Stark. The hero community is being portrayed by our favorite wall crawler. When they out themselves, adhere to the law, bad things happen.
In other words, Captain America was right.
Okay, back to Spidey, because I’ve been working on this post off and on since about 11am, and I really just need to wrap it up.
We were told Spider-Man would have a “classic look.” This Spidey suit has Steve Ditko written all over it.
Re-watch the trailer and you’ll see Spidey can be expressive with his eyes again. It’s not just head and neck movements and hand gestures. The eye black gets thicker and thinner as necessary. It’s the same technology that they used with Deadpool’s mask. Totally not worried. Also, that’s a small black spider on the front and a large red spider on the back, much like the one drawn above.
So yes, Spider-Man has arrived in the MCU. But that’s not all we got in the new trailer. We also saw a bulletproof Black Panther, Winter Soldier appear to be locked away deep in the heart of a frozen bunker (which is odd, since the last time we saw him he was pinned to a table with Cap and Falcon), and we saw this this, which I’m officially labeling the Marvel Azkaban.
I know what it is. It’s a prison for super beings. But what I don’t know is a) who funded it and 2) when it was built. Seems like a pretty massive undertaking since the end of Age of Ultron…a year ago.
But I digress.
Here’s the trailer. This movie looks great, and it will have the longest run time of any Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. So maybe people will stop complaining that Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice will be too long at 2.5 hours.
What are your thoughts? Share them in the comments section here or on Facebook. Also Twitter, email, smoke signals, or text messages (if you have the Nerds United hotline number).
The special guest this week is Alexander “Kino” Beeler. Kino is the Founder of Grand Arc Designs, an independent video gaming developer working on Memories of Aeldaria, an epic fantasy game.
We visit about Kino’s life, including a brief period spent in the United States military.
And we spend a lot of time talking about Memories of Aeldaria, which is expected to have a Kickstarter later this year. This episode includes exclusive audio from the game – audio you won’t hear anywhere else until the Kickstarter begins.
Head over to Square Enix Collective and vote for Memories of Aeldaria to help them get some much-needed exposure.
Also I take way too long in my intro talking about Hellboy 3, Suicide Squad, Grant Morrison, Ghostbusters, Jon Bernthal, stan Lee, and Spider-Man.
Meet your new wall-crawling, web-slinging friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
Say hello to Tom Holland. “Hello Tom Holland.”
Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures have announced the new Spider-Man, as well as the director and even confirmed the release date for the stand-alone Spider-Man movie.
Mark your calendars, as July 28, 2017 has just been selected for the release of the third Spider-Man franchise kickstarter.
2017 currently has seven movies set for theaters based on Marvel or DC characters. That could actually increase before it’s all said and done. Just remember how quickly the ball got rolling on a Deadpool movie.
Spider-Man will be released after The Wolverine 3, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Wonder Woman, and Fantastic Four. After a few months to cleanse the palates, November has in store for movie goers Thor: Ragnarok and The Justice League.
I’m exhausted (and already a little broke) just typing all of that out. And that follows a 2016 that already has seven more movies based on the Big Two scheduled for mass consumption.
Okay, I got off on a little tangent there. Sorry about that.
Back to the new Peter Parker.
Tom Holland is a relative unknown, at least to me. In fact, a quick view of his IMDb page indicates he has just ten credited roles, one being the announced Spider-Man gig. I think that’s good. I like the idea of bringing in an unknown, because you already have so many stars/heavy hitters in the MCU.
Now I don’t know if it’s a coincidence that Sony + Marvel made the announcement days after videos like this hit the internet, but I’m sure showing off the skills didn’t hurt Holland.
It is unknown at this time whether or not Holland/Spider-Man will have a role in Captain America: Civil War. I would love for Spidey to make an appearance in the movie, because he is a pivotal character in the comics. However, if it makes the story too convoluted to include him, I say withhold him at this time. If there is no logical way to include him – if you can’t add him in without making it flow seamlessly and make sense, then I say “don’t add him.”
They are already shooting Civil War. Unless they had Spider-Man in the script and saved his scenes for last, don’t force him into the story, rushing production and compromising the picture.
I for one am looking forward to the return to Marvel of one of its biggest stars. And with Spider-Man topping the list of most profitable superheroes, this will hopefully launch the web crawler into the stratosphere as far as movies go.
I liked the original Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movie. Then the Sam Raimi-led franchise started to tumble down the hill PDQ. By the end of Spider-Man 3, they were like the Jamaican bobsled team, zooming down the ice chute at blazing speeds and then wrecking in grand fashion.
Again, I enjoyed the Andrew Garfield/Emma Stone Amazing Spider-Man. It had the things that I wanted to see, like one bad guy. It stayed true to the comics with the [SPOILER ALERT] death of Captain Stacy. It also had a Peter Parker who stayed long and lanky, and didn’t become a guy who looked like he spent some time at the gym.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 brought me one of the saddest movie moments in recent memory: the death of Gwen Stacy TNA-style over-booking. Rhino at the beginning. Electro and Green Goblin in much of the middle, with Rhino inexplicably returning towards the end. And yes, I popped when you saw the Oscorp stash of Sinister Six enhancements.
But one of the traps to which Hollywood can sometimes fall victim is over-stimulation. Give me a good story with one solid villain instead of a shoddy story with multiple antagonists.
Wow…another tangent.
I wish Tom Holland good luck as he dons the familiar red and blue Spider-Man costume. Unfortunately, the success or failure of the new Spidey franchise will undoubtedly be placed on his shoulders, much like Garfield took heat for Amazing Spider-Man 2.
But let’s face it – I’m going to go see all of these movies anyway. I can’t seem to stop myself.
Also, Marvel and Sony announced that Jon Watts will be directing the 2017 Spider-Man movie.
And let me just say…IF Spider-Man (or Peter Parker, for that matter) does appear in Civil War, I’d really like to find that out when I see it in theaters.
Meet Jay Peteranetz, a lifelong comic book reader (mostly Marvel) and artist who has helped take comics to an unprecedented medium – playing cards.
Welcome to Magicians Must Die:
Jay grew up reading a ton of Marvel, including X-Men and the Cosmic Marvel books, including Guardians of the Galaxy. So naturally we talk about the marvel Cinematic Universe and OMG DID YOU SEE ADAM WARLOCK?
There is a lot covered in this episode, and I’m pumped for future conversations with Jay, who will be appearing at the Denver Comic Con in May. So go check him out there.
ALSO – if we get Jay to 250 Twitter followers in the next two weeks, he’ll hook me up with all four issues (sets) of MMD, autographed, and ready to giveaway on the show. He wins, we win. GET IT?!?
It is finally here! Comics for Beginners is no joke – but there are jokes inside…laughter…tears, and whining from my dog Lucky.
And we have winners and giveaways. My wife did the drawing out of my Green Lantern hat. IT’S A REAL THING! And I explain the mess on the hat in the episode.
Great questions, great answers, except by me. Listen to the end for just a weeeeeeee bit of bonus Nerds United.
“In what world could Batman defeat Superman?” In Frank Miller’s world.
This week’s return is an in-house deal with three voices of the Jittery Monkey Podcast Network as I sit down with Toby Gullion and Craig Holmes (of The Good, The Bad, The Podcast) and we discuss, among other things:
Guardians of the Galaxy
Batman – Year One
The Dark Knight Returns
Batman v Superman
Spider-Man
The Avengers
X-Men
…pretty much any of the recent big screen comic adaptations.
We also check in with fresh reviews of GotG both from me and my wife as well as our friends Rick and Clairesse after we took in the show last weekend.
It’s an hour-long show but I think it seemed to pass by a little faster than that. So make sure your seat back and tray tables are in their upright and locked position as we prepare for takeoff. Thank you, as always, for choosing Nerds United for your air travel needs. We’ll be around shortly with beverages and tiny packages of pretzels.
Nerds United Episode 119: IMDb and the Silver Foxes [ 1:00:51 | 0.01 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (634)
