A TAYLORED EXPERIENCE: With D. Bethel locked behind closed doors to grade the work of his beloved students, friend-of-the-show Taylor Katcher has graciously stepped in to help Andrew in his hour of need. Together, they run the gamut of nerdy topics, from Super Smash Bros. to Betrayal Legacy to Civilization VI on the iPhone to the most recent DC/CW crossover event, “Elseworlds.”
RELEVANT EPISODES:
Guestcast 02 – Ready Taylor One: Taylor’s last appearance on the last Guestcast. Also, in the “Related Episodes” section of the notes, you can find all of the other times Taylor has appeared on the show.
THE STATE OF SUPERHERO CINEMA (AND TV): With so much superheroic media out there right now, and with Marvel, DC, and Fox swinging wildly on both the large and small screens, Andrew and D. Bethel take a look at how things are sorting out, how they’ve changed over the last year or so, and where things might go.
RELATED EPISODES:
Episode 27 – “Super Sleep Mode”: The first Thanksgiving episode where Andrew and D. Bethel discuss post-apocalyptic fiction.
Last weekend was San Diego Comic-Con, and although lots of news filtered out of the event, super heroes were an important element of that story. Marvel and DC both showed up ready to spill with trailers, news, and all sorts of superheroic nonsense up in the air for fans to ingest.
DC Comics has a lot of ground to makeup for, with 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice leaving a lot of eager fans less than thrilled. Probably one of the biggest things they had to present was the trailer for next year’s big superhero movie, Wonder Woman:
There’s been a lot scuttlebutt around the DC Cinematic Universe in the last six months, but the one thing that seems to still be on track is the stand-alone Wonder Woman. Set in the era of World War I, it looks like this movie brings a lot of what you’d expect from Wonder Woman: some weird quasi-Greek stuff, some lasso action, and punching. And kicking in wedges, let’s be honest. Swords and shields, and the rest.
Of course, not one to disappoint, DC and WB also provided a look at the other big movie coming out next year: Justice League. This is less a trailer and more a bunch of “footage,” but it does provide a little look at what’s going on. We get to see Bruce Wayne and Wonder Woman talk about stuff. Bruce Wayne tries to recruit Aquaman and Flash, with varying levels of success. If anything, it provides a look at the different relationships the characters will have with each other in the movie.
Apparently, there’s still some confusion as to whether or not this is going to be one part of two, or a stand-alone movie. I suspect a lot of the future of the DC Cinematic Universe rests on the shoulders of Wonder Woman and this first Justice League offering.
In the TV department, DC Comics seems to be dominated by the “Arrow-verse,” the series of television shows airing on the CW. The unexpected ending of last season’s Flashwill be addressed in the upcoming season, although the extent to which we will be living in a Flashpoint world is still uncertain. In the flagship show, Arrow assembles a new team of crime-busting vigilantes, although it’s clear that the old team isn’t going anywhere. Also, Legends of Tomorrow marches forward, with Captain Rip Hunter and his crew of “legends” working to preserve the timeline (or something). It’s hard to say if Rip Hunter’s first mission will be to stop Barry Allen from saving his mother’s life, but only time will tell. Unfortunately, newcomer to the Arrow-verse (and, more specifically, the CW), Supergirl, hasn’t begun filming yet, so there’s no neat video to show; however, it does promise to bring Superman into the mix. Furthermore, a four show crossover episode is apparently also in the cards.
On the other side of the aisle, Marvel had its fair share of dazzling videos to put forth. With respect to movies, Marvel put out a new trailer for the upcoming Doctor Strange film. In an effort to prove that this movie has no respect for conventional notions of reality and geometry, it features some of the most bizarre cityscapes in recent cinematic history:
It was also announced that actor Brie Larson will be taking on the role of Major Carol Danvers, the superhero (eventually) known as Captain Marvel. Although not scheduled for release until 2019, Captain Marvel is currently the first Marvel movie headlined by a female character.
On the television side, Marvel surprised a lot of people (or, at least me) when they announced the arrival of Ghost Rider in Agents of SHIELD, Season 4. Probably bigger news, though, is the newly released trailer for Luke Cage, the third show produced from the Marvel-Netflix alliance and part of their Defenders storyline.
Although fans of the Netflix-Marvel collaboration have already seen Luke Cage appear in Jessica Jones, this series has already established a very different tone than its predecessors. A teaser trailer for the NEXT series, Iron Fist, was also released, reminding people that there will be an ongoing onslaught of Marvel characters pouring through your television screens. Of course, in an effort to flood the bitstreams with even more Marvel excitement, they also released a teaser trailer for the upcoming Defenders mini-series, featuring Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist together.
Of course, there’s even more news out there for super hero movie and television fans. This is just the tip of the iceberg. From all of the television and film being produced, it looks like the age of the superhero has at least a few more years of kick left in it.
Week in Geek: Andrew plays Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India while Dan watches Ex Machina.
Cheap Games: With Andrew’s sideways foray into the normally “AAA” Assassin’s Creed franchise being through the door of a $10 downloadable game, Dan and Andrew discuss the recent widening of prices for games––both video and tabletop––and the implications on not only the content but the culture it feeds.
Flash in the Pan/The Doctor is Out: In unrelated but nearly simultaneous announcements, CBS/CW and BBC announced they are pulling their respective content from the media hubs of Netflix and Hulu, presumably because they are going to launch their own premium streaming services. Will such a tactic work? Should it? Why now?
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For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.
Featured Music:
-“Stayin’ in Black” by Wax Audio -“Ground Zeroes” by Ludvig Forssell (from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain) -“Carry On Wayward Son” by GWAR (live recording) -“Are You Ready for Some Football” by Hank Williams, Jr.
*Dramatic sting sampled from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
