It's been such a long road to get here, but Justice League is finally here! All of the DC Extended Universe seems to ride on the success of WB's biggest heroes coming together for the first time on the big screen. Chris and Dennis give their thoughts on a mostly mediocre film but we still have that glimmer of hope that DC will turn it around.
Chris and Dennis return for a review of Wonder Woman!
We begin our journey through the history of DC Comics on the big screen with Superman and the Mole Men from 1951. We have an interview with Superman expert Jonathan Morris, creator of the website The Chronological Superman, as well as an interview with Paul Bernbaum, screenwriter of the 2006 film Hollywoodland, which tells the story of the mysterious death of George Reeves, the actor who played the Man of Steel in The Adventures of Superman. Along the way, we also talk about "The Superman Curse" and how it has affected various people associated with the Superman movies. Time Codes 00:00:58 - Intro / Superman and the Mole Men with guest Jonathan Morris 01:05:04 - Kellogg's Adventures of Superman Commercial 01:05:48 - Chris and Dennis talk about "The Superman Curse" 01:19:51 - Hollywoodland trailer 01:20:49 - Interview with Paul Bernbaum, screenwriter of Hollywoodland Links: The Chronological Superman In Der Fuehrer's Face
We may be done talking about Batman v Superman, but we'll still keep you updated on other DC Comics films hitting the big scree,
Here is our mostly spoiler free review of the new Lego Batman Movie, the follow up to 2014's Lego Movie. Should you see it? Of course! Listen to find out why.
It's the final episode of the podcast. Superman is dead and we just can't summon the willpower to go on. We take some time at the top of the show for a bit of reflection on Batman v Superman and the experience of producing a weekly podcast for half a year.
Then we get to the scenes in question, finding some truly weird and surprising Easter eggs, even in this very sombre epilogue. We want to thank everyone who listened to the show, especially those who have been with us from the beginning and those who have joined in the conversation online, even if you disagreed with our opinions.
Also, stayed tuned for info on our next show, called DC Legacy Filmcast.
Comedian Kevin Avery joins us for the second big fight scene of the movie. In addition to standup comedy, Kevin is formerly an Emmy winning writer for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and co-host, along with W. Kamau Bell of the podcast Denzel Washington is the Greatest Actor of All Time, Period. Taken as its own thing, we all kinda liked the big fight scene between Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and Doomsday, with a few reservations. But seriously, why didn't Superman just hand the Kryptonite spear to Wonder Woman?
Buckle up, because we haven't seen a rant quite like we got out of this week's guest. Chris Sims of Comics Alliance and War Rocket Ajax joins us to talk about the Superman v Doomsday fight and we find ourselves in the unlikely position of actually defending the film for once. To put it lightly, Chris didn't like it.
We also go deep into the history of DC Comics and talk about the essential nature of Batman and Superman through the decades and how the film missed those characterizations by a mile.
And, we explore an very surreal product placement tie-in that gives us a glimpse of an alternate DC film universe in which things aren't so dreary.
This episode brought to you by Turkish Airlines.
The Batman v Superman fight has come to its conclusion as Batman races off to save Martha.
If Batman has seen the light, do we see any change in his character? The warehouse fight scene doesn't seem to hold any clues to Batman's transformation because this is the most brutal superhero fight scene we've ever witnessed in a film. Batman takes out two dozen henchman to save Superman's mother.
We also get our first glimpse at Superman's ultimate foe, Doomsday.
The big fight scene between Batman and Superman is finally here and we've got a returning guest, Oli Pettigrew, who has brought along his wife, Linda Black, who he credits with teaching him everything he knows about comic books.
We talk about the debt this scene owes to The Dark Knight Returns, find some very obscure easter eggs, and discuss the controversial "Martha Moment." We end with some hope for future DC Comics movies.
You can follow Oli and Linda online at @oli_pettigrew and @lindaxenia
In this episode we are joined by Abraham Riesman @abrahamjoseph, associate editor of Vulture at New York Magazine.
We're talking about a scene that is important for the upcoming slate of DC films, most notably Justice League. Diana receives an email from Bruce Wayne that includes Lex Luthor's metahuman files. We see clips of Arthur Curry aka Aquaman, Barry Allen aka The Flash, and Victor Stone aka Cyborg.
Do these cameo appearances give us hope for the upcoming solo films? Are those films even still happening? We're holding out hope for a brighter future.
In this episode we are joined by Bob Leeper of NerdvanaMedia.com and the Phoenix Film Critics Society to talk about a scene involving Lex, Lois and Superman. Lois is kidnapped by Anatoli and delivered to the top of LexCorp Tower. Lex proceeds to toss her off the building, knowing that Superman will come to her rescue. He does, of course, then confronts Lex. Luthor tells Superman he will have to bring him the head of Batman or Martha dies. Superman then tells Lois that he has to go to Gotham to kill the Batman.
This episode brought to you by Terrio Janitorial.
In a scene that was deleted from the theatrical release, we learn that the reason Superman failed to act during the Senate bombing was that the wheelchair bomb was lined with lead. Clark Kent finds his Earth father, Jonathan Kent, atop a mountain and has a conversation with him. Is this a dream? A hallucination? A peyote trip? We'll never know. Bruce Wayne tells his surrogate father, Alfred, that the work he has done as Batman has been meaningless as long as Superman is a threat to the planet. Dennis treats us to a comprehensive history of the Wayne family. Will Bruce be the last one of his line? And we take a short trip to Ralli's Diner, where Martha Kent is kidnapped.
On this episode we're joined by Dr. Christine Schreyer, the anthropologist who created the written Kryptonian language for Man of Steel. She tells us of some easter eggs hidden in the language that have a surprising relationship to Batman v Superman. We also talk about other aspects of Kryptonian culture present in the film, as well as Superman's Canadian heritage. And don't forget about the ongoing superhero battle in the cereal aisle, where you can see some of Dr. Schreyer's work on Superman Caramel Crunch. (By the way, it's way better than the Batman Chocolate Strawberry cereal).
We're dealing with the aftermath of the Senate bombing as Batman breaks into LexCorp and steals the Kryptonite, and Lois and Superman have a deep conversation where it looks like Superman has all but given up. Lex enters the Kryptonian ship using General Zod's fingerprints. The we have a montage of Bruce Wayne training, constructing Kryptonite weapons and browsing Lex's secret files. He gets a glimpse of other metahumans, including and old photo of Diana that has leaves him wondering, "Who's that girl?"
In this episode we're joined by film critic for the Arizona Republic, Barbara VanDenburgh, to talk about what is probably our least favorite scene in the film. Superman is called to testify before Congress on his involvement in the desert of Nairomi. Instead of being a grandly inspirational "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" moment, the hearing is interrupted by a horrifying explosion before Superman can even utter a word. This scene demoralized us so much that it was difficult to get through the rest of the film.
This episode brought to you by Granny's Peach Tea.
Lois is back on the trail of the mysterious bullet, as she meets with Secretary Swanwick in DC. Senator Finch gives a press conference. Lex Luthor stares at some Kryptonite. Clark visits his Earth mom. Kahina Ziri rides the bus. And to close out this episode, Lois visits Secretary Swanwick again. Also, we talk about some of the listener feedback we've been getting. Apparently, some people aren't too happy that this podcast exists.
Our guest this week is fellow podcaster Josh Stolte, co-host of Scarlet Velocity, about the The Flash TV show, Green Justice, a podcast about the Arrow TV show, as well as other comic book and geek-related podcasts.
Josh is joining us to talk about the Batmobile chase scene and the first on-screen face to face meeting between The Man of Steel and The Dark Knight. Did it live up to our expectations?
We're joined by Professor of Film Studies at Arizona State University, Jeremy Carr. While not a huge comic book fan, Jeremy is a film buff, and as a standalone film, he kinda liked it.
We're talking about the scene in which Bruce tells Alfred that he has decided to kill Superman, as well as the scene where Clark Kent meets the dead inmate's baby mama. Both of these scenes are the moments that cement the central conflict of the film.
We have a very special guest on this episode - comic book artist Jamal Igle, whose DC Comics work you may have seen on Firestorm, Supergirl and Nightwing, or from his creator-owned project Molly Danger.
Welcome to Bruce Wayne's nightmare, as he emerges from a bunker into an apocalyptic future in which Superman is a fascist with his own army and Darkseid's parademons roam the skies. We try to figure out just what the hell is going on here. We also talk about the history of Jack Kirbys Darkseid and the Fourth World and how the DC video game/comic series Injustice influenced this scene.
We're joined by former comic shop owner Marco Regalado. Marco was a top five finalist for The Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retail Award in 2012. We follow Lois Lane into the men's restroom where she confronts Secretary Swanwick about the mysterious bullet. Perry White yells at Clark Kent for failing to do his job. Bruce Wayne finds Diana Prince at a museum gala and asks for his stolen drive back.