Issue 606: F4 Box Office Returns Due to Superhero Fatigue? & Spider-Man Brand New Day News

On today's issue of the podcast Jong and Michael discuss the ongoing discusssion/debate whatever you want to call it about whether The Fantastic Four: First Steps 2nd weekend drop is due superhero fatigue (spoiler: we say no), what they think of the first look at Spider-Man's new suit, the additions of both Mark Ruffalo and Michael Mando to the cast of Brand New Day, whether Peter is getting another adult chaperone, Brand New Day plot theories, and whether they're excited about a Spider-Punk animated film being in development. Plus, Michael gives a brief non-spoiler review of the new animated series Eyes of Wakanda. Find out why he thinks it's a must watch.   

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Instagram: @onepunch______ & @producermike975

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You can do this, you.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Do my Oh.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Hello there, internets. Welcome to issue six and six of
Comic Cast. I'm Michael Carroll alongside Jong Lee Jong. I'm
feeling better. I'm pumped up on antibiotics. Compared the last
time I got a steroid shot, I am feeling way
better than last time.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yeah, I think we should name this podcast, uh like
Sinus Cast or something. We both have, me me more
than you have sinus issues. Like if I swallow the
wrong lugie or accidentally swallow the wrong lugie, I'm like,
oh no, that's gonna come a few days later. I
can't hear, and you know, my sinus is hurting and

(01:16):
and you know it's it's all kinds of I can't breathe,
the muc is coming out of green muc is coming out,
and I'm just like this, this is terrible.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, I don't have I don't have as much sinus
infections as you do, but like I have issues with
like just allergies in general. I have a deviated septum,
so that doesn't help. And then uh yeah, just going
outside sometimes dead just just done. Like I can't I
can't do anything. I can't function my eyes get all whatever,

(01:47):
So I gotta get hopped up on pills. But the
other thing is I'm allergic to zero tech, the allergy medicine,
so I gotta know. Yeah, it's confusing.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
How am I allergic to allergy medicine? That's uh, that's
that's the one I take, or I take the costco
version of that one, and it does wonders. I found
that that one does better than Allegra and any of
the other, you know, any of the other allergy medicines.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Apparently when I take it, I break out into hives
and I had to go get a steroid shot. It's
it's annoying.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
No, it's not good.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
It's not great. It's not great. So I'm a Clariton
household now, or at least I try to be. But
we're not here to talk about sinuses. I mean we could,
that's a that's gonna be a spinoff podcast with our
Sinus cast. But we're here to talk about Spider Man.

(02:41):
We're here to talking about Fantastic four at the box office,
as well as some other things and a little bit
of breaking news. Oh and I got to see Eyes
of a Condos. So I'm going to talk about that
a little bit later, but first, as always, you can
follow us on social media. I'm a producer Mike nine seven.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
Five and I met one Punch.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
And of course you can rate, review, share, or subscribe
this podcast on all your favorite podcast platforms. Leave us
a rating or review. We would really appreciate. It only
takes like two three seconds tops, and you're done. You
can also listen to a version of this podcast on
ESPN ninety seven to five and ninety two five Wednesday
nights at eight pm. Jong you know, the big news is,

(03:19):
of course Spider Man and all the wealth of information
we got over the last few days. But I do
want to start off with this because this has been
somewhat of a hot topic but also a topic that
we we've discussed on this podcast many a time in
terms of box office as much has been made about
the box office returns for Fantastic four, which had its

(03:41):
second weekend of release, and if I remember correctly, it
performed with about forty million. Let me get my stats
up here. Yeah, it's and it's sophomore weekend. It performed
with forty million from four thousand and twenty five theaters.
So far, it's around three hundred and sixty million, and

(04:05):
it's on pace to outgross both Thunderbolts and Captain America
Brave New World probably in the next couple of weeks.
But it was a significant drop based off the trades,
as it's been reported, and it's not quite being looked
at in a dismal way, but at least with the trades,
it feels like it's been a dismal look for Fantastic

(04:29):
Four and how it's performed at the box office. Just
your general thoughts, and I can get into more of
like the actual numbers here in a second, but your
general thoughts on this. I guess is it a bag?
Is it a big deal? Is I guess what I'm
asking man?

Speaker 3 (04:43):
I mean, it's the new norm. I think, you know,
to be a successful run in the box office, I
think you're probably looking at the five hundred million dollar mark,
and you know, something that's really successful is inching towards
seven eight hundred, and I think that's it. I don't
think like I think we were so spoiled pre pandemic,

(05:07):
and and I think as the we've I've talked about
this and we've both talked about this on nauseum uh man,
even since pandemic, like the pre pandemic pandemic, like it
just got so it's getting so expensive to go to movies.
And you know, and in some of the things that

(05:27):
are happening in the last couple of years, especially you
know in this year, just talking about like being able
to afford to buy groceries and you know, put gas
in your car and taking care of your essential needs,
you know, and and movies isn't an essential need. It's

(05:49):
you know, form of entertainment escapism. And you know, Terresa
doesn't go to the movies anymore, oh partially because mostly
because we have two kids and she doesn't really like
going to the movies. She'd rather watch it at home.
And you know, she just kind of did it, you know,
while we were dating, just to you know, go on
dates and stuff. So I typically go buy myself or

(06:12):
the last couple of movies I've I've gone with a friend.
But like man, like we both like you know, we
both like getting a pop, porn and a drink and
and to cut some cut down on some of that costs.
Like I go to Tintaltown, does it have the biggest screens?
Is I have Imax?

Speaker 2 (06:29):
No?

Speaker 3 (06:31):
Would I've liked to watch Fantastic Four in Imax, Superman Imax, Yes,
but I'm not gonna spend an extra don't you know
a tintletown you buy it online, it's ten dollars plus
the service fees like twelve thirteen bucks. You go to
IMAX suckers like thirty something dollars and I can't remember

(06:51):
the last time I went to Imax, but it's like
thirty dollars, right, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
I just went to the Imax regal, the one on
Silber and I ten and for a matinee IMAX ticket
it was like twenty seven something and then with you know,
tax and everything, it ended up being about thirty. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
And that's not even like a real like a like
a like a real full blown IMAX, right like that. Yeah,
I think the projection is a little bit it's downgraded
from the with the real experience it's supposed to be.
And I'm like, you know, I'd rather put that seventeen
dollars towards a drink and a popcorn, which you know,

(07:32):
I think ends up costing like thirteen dollars, like a
small like I think what I end up getting is
like a small popcorn and a medium drink because the man,
those discrepancies between a small and medium drinks is such
a freaking ripoff. Like a small drink's like eight ounces
or something, and a medium drinks like like double the size.

(07:53):
And I think like a large is only like six
ounces more or something like that, something crazy where like
the discrepancy between and you know, they want you to
buy the medium and not the small, and the small
is maybe not even eight ounces, maybe it's like six.
But yeah, like they have all these tricks to kind
of get you to spend like just a little bit more, right,
Like you know, small drink's like eight dollars and a

(08:14):
medium drinks like nine or ten dollars, but you get
like an extra ten eight to ten ounces whatever it is.
But I'm like, you know, if I'm going to IMAX
and I do all this, it's like running me close
to fifty dollars. And if you're going on a date
and a lot, and I feel like me and you
are out of the norm. We typically go by ourselves, yeah,

(08:38):
and that and you don't get anything normally.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
Right, No, I usually avoid getting anything.

Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah, So I'm like, if you're going by myself and
most of the viewers are most of the viewers are
going as a date or as a family. And if
you're going as a family with you know, three, four
or five people, and you're spending i'm tickets of upwards
of thirty dollars a ticket. If we're mat Naal, let's

(09:04):
just ballpark it and say thirty five dollars. Well, let's
do this conservatively. Thirty dollars a ticket for five people.
That's one hundred and fifty dollars just for the movies.
And if you have little kids, they're gonna want popcorn
and drinks and snacks, and you're probably looking at spending
two hundred dollars for an outing. That's groceries for a

(09:26):
couple of weeks. Yeah, and we've been talking about this
ever since. Movies have become more pricey, and it's a
very real issue. And you couple that with what's happening
with everything else that's getting expensive. People aren't going to
the movies, And then now you have movies that are
coming out after eight weeks of release, to on demand

(09:50):
and to streaming services. Why on earth would people be
going going to movies when, especially when they have families
of you know, three, four, five people, and you're paying
for a streaming service already at home for upwards of
ten to fifteen dollars. Why not wait two months for
it to come out. Now, I'm not that Fantastic four

(10:11):
is not going to do that, but there are movies
that come out just after six to eight weeks of release.
It's just it's just it's crazy to me because you
don't want that box office run to run to be longer.
But I mean, like all of this contributing factors, it's
not superhero fatigue. It's a fantastic part of my pun
and cheesy pun. It's a fantastic movie along with Superman

(10:32):
and along with a bunch of other stuff. Hell Sinners
Center's coming up pre Pandemic might have made one hundred
two hundred million dollars. More like, it's not because of
superhero fatigue, and it's not because of NCU fatigue. It's
really because people aren't gonna shove out. You know this,

(10:55):
The disposable income in this country, whole, in the entire
world is shrinking, and you cannot you cannot expect people
to go out and spend this amount of disposable income.
It really is disposable income where you can save. If
you're watching both of these movies, you have a family

(11:16):
of five, and you're spending two hundred dollars each time,
that's that's you know, four hundred dollars. You could put
four hundred dollars towards a quick trip to Austin or
San Antonio and spend a whole weekend, you know, maybe
doubling that and spending the whole weekend and you know,
having an experience over three days rather than going watching
two movies that total up to four hours less than

(11:38):
four hours. It's really about people picking and choosing what
they want to do with their money. And it's movie
theaters has become kind of, you know, a kind of
like a you know, a byproduct of what people are
going through. And it's I don't blame it on you know,
superhero fatigue, MCU fatigue. It's not it's none of that.

(12:01):
And I don't ever think we're ever gonna get up
to that billion dollar mark. I think maybe once every
couple of years. And I think animation is probably where
it's at.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah, right, yeah, animated or something along those family movie vibes,
because right now, you know what the top grossing film
of the entire year is.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
It's it's probably an animated movie.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
No, it is an animated movie, and it's not a
big animated movie here in the States. It's a big
animated movie worldwide. And that's Nieza Too, which has made
nearly two billion dollars at the box office. Most of it,
of course, is internationally. It's only made twenty twenty million domestically.
But it's also just now debuting in the States, if

(12:47):
I because I think there was a screening for it
just recently here in Houston, so it should be coming
out to United States there's very soon, if not more.
But then the top top film and terms of US
and world just for a US produced film, it's Lelo
and Stitch, a live action mixed with animation movie that's

(13:10):
crossed a billion dollars. But that's only there's only two
movies that have crossed a billion dollars, and that's Knieza
Too and Lilo and Stitch.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
Yeah, we're never going to get back to a time
where multiple movies cross a billion dollars in one year.
We're going to be in a like look look at
Look at Mission impossible, Look at Mission impossible, they've grossed
nearly six hundred million dollars and not two movies ago. Uh,
not two movies ago. Tom Cruise was acrossing a billion

(13:38):
dollars with uh with what's.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
It called gun Maverick.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yeah, I think that was just Tom Cruise is one
of the main main attractions for that, but also a
nostalgia factor and people going out to go watch it.
It's just it's gonna be rare and and I don't
think culmination movies. I don't think we'll have that effect again,
just coupled with what we're talking about here, and also
the fact that this phase, these last couple of phases

(14:04):
have not been great for Marvel. It that that's also
real too, you know that. I'm not saying it's not real,
but it's not the only contributing factor.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
Right, No, there's a lot. I think there's a lot
of factors at play. And that's where online there's of course,
just when you talk about online, there's a lack of
nuance in contact with a lot of things that are
presented by people. Shocking. I know in regards to Fantastic four,
because I wanted to bring up these numbers, so it
debuted with one hundred and seventeen point six million in

(14:33):
its first weekend. Then it had a sixty six percent
drop to forty million in its second weekend. Superman had
a fifty three percent drop in its second weekend after
launching to one hundred and twenty five million in its
first weekend. So it's not like it's only Fantastic four.

(14:54):
And of course we know Thunderbolts and Cats in America
Brave New World, they both suffer drops as well. That
being said, Captain, America Brave New World is still in
the top ten of movies released this year. Thunderbolts is
number ten right now. It's probably gonna be pushed to
eleventh once Fantastic four continues its run for another week

(15:16):
or two. But you mentioned trends, and you mentioned other factors.
You know, there's been a lot of talk about like
comedy films, we don't really see those in a theater
anymore because I think this is just pure conjecture, conjecture
by me, but to me, it feels like more and
more people, if you're gonna go to the theater, you

(15:37):
want to experience something big, something like a well family
or big tent pole type movie release. You're not necessarily
going to spend your however much money on a theater
ticket for something that I could probably wait and watch
that on streaming. A movie that has received rave reviews
by both critics and audiences. The Naked Gun movie that

(16:01):
just released this past weekend opened at third place, which
is a solid debut for it seventeen million dollars. But
still people aren't going to the theaters for comedy as
much anymore. You see more of those action comedies or
comedies in general. It feels like more of those are
released straight to streaming outside of a few bigger releases
here and there, and then rom com You look at

(16:24):
that genre, that genre I think was huge when you
and I were in our like early twenties or you know,
late teens, early twenties and all that, and now that
genre is not a big genre at all at theaters.
I feel like it's mainly if you're seeing that, it's
mainly feels like it's a theater release. So there's extenuating

(16:48):
circumstances for not just superhero films, but for a lot
of film genres as well.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
Yeah, you can argue that comic book movies are withstanding
this onslaught of just people not going to the movies.
Comic comic book movies, Comic book movies, big Hollywood blockbusters,
and animation are the three that, yes they've been affected. Boy,

(17:16):
there's still people going out to go watch this. Like
I'm going to read you off the top ten that
had the release of the top ten this year, and
it's obviously a little skewed because some of these movies
are still in theaters, Fantastic Four being one of them,
which stands at number eleven, and I think Final Destinination
still out.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, it might be wrapping up its run because it.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
Just yeah, yeah, it's it's number thirteen. But Nija two
is number one. Like you said, Leelo and Stitches animation
like you know, remake Minecraft. It's it's a children's movie,
so I don't I don't know if I'm gonna throw
it into the animation department, but it's a children's movie.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
Yeah, you could argue it's like family kind of animation,
but because a lot of it takes place with animation stuff.
But yeah, more family movie.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
Which, by the way, I don't know if it's still
in theaters or not, but it's like right on the
borderline of hitting a billion dollars. It's sitting at nine
hundred and fifty five million dollars. Jurassic World Rebirth is
number four. It's which is a big blockbuster movie. You know,
things blow up in dinosaurs.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
That's I would throw dinosaurs into the superhero well, Jurassic
World into that superhero animated or family type. They're kind
of they seem impervious to the trend because Jurassic World
Rebirth is not like an amazing movie, but for it
to gross nearly eight hundred million, it's it shows people

(18:45):
wanted to watch dinosaurs.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
Yeah, I mean I would put it in the same
category as like a Mission Impossible, like it's it's a
it's action slash, turn your brain off movie that the
franchise is like Fasten the Furious, where it's a blockbuster,
Like I considered those blockbusters. So you have Jassic World
at number four, How to Train Your Dragon, which is
another remake of a Pixar movie, DreamWorks movie, I think,

(19:10):
And then you have Mission Possible, which is blockbuster Superman
blockbuster comic book movie f one. I would consider that
a blockbuster movie. Yeah, and then you have rounding out
the top ten, you have Captain America and Thunderbolts, which
are both so you know you consider out of I
don't know if you consider them blockbuster because it depends,
like the term blockbuster I think also depends on when

(19:33):
it's released, typically in the summer. But yeah, you run
out the top ten with two comic book movies, and
in none of these movies, I don't know, Like, would
you consider minecraft original IP original movie? No?

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Right?

Speaker 3 (19:48):
F one? What about F one?

Speaker 1 (19:50):
No? No, I wouldn't just because the F one brand
and the way they want to refer to it F one.
The brand of F one is still an.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
And I mean, would you consider I don't know anything
about n Nija two or Nija that one.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
Yeah, I don't know too much about it, so that
one you may, but like I don't really know too much,
so it's hard for me.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
Yes, And like you said, it's barely made its way
way over here. So with the majority you domestic release,
I would say the first original IP you're going to
come across is Centers at number twelve. Yep, people don't
go watch original movies either. Mickey seventeen, number nineteen, Like
it's just it just it, it just just doesn't happen. Anymore.

(20:40):
And like, I just I think the easy thing to
do is to basically ask comic book movies, Hey, what happened?
What do you mean? What happened? It's happening everywhere, But
but you guys are the unstoppable billion dollar every movie franchise. No,

(21:02):
first of all, it only happens to a certain you know,
a certain select number of franchises. Uh. And and no,
and not everybody is nobody is immune to this, including
the MCU. And I it's just it's it's it's a
little frustrating when and we're gonna get this every single
time we get an MCU release. So what happened is

(21:23):
comic book movie fatigue? Real?

Speaker 1 (21:26):
Like?

Speaker 3 (21:26):
Is MCU fatigue?

Speaker 1 (21:28):
Really?

Speaker 3 (21:28):
No? I mean, yeah, they've I'm not gonna sit in
and say, like all the releases have been great, but
it's not. It's not an MCU or a comic book
movie fatigue. It's really not.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
And especially like we talked about it when we did
our rankings for the Multiverse Saga for films, more of
those movies are hits than misses, so you know, And
and the way the trades talk about Thunderbolts and the
Marvels and have a few others. It just it makes
it sound like they were dismal movies, and they're not,

(22:00):
and not all the trades are referring to them in
that way. But in terms of box office, yeah, they
didn't perform like what you would expect Marvel movies to perform,
but those movies are good, Like I like the Marvels.
I think Thunderbolts is still one of my favorite movies
of the year, Fantastic Four is one of my favorite
movies of the year. Like they were. Just because a

(22:21):
box office return is not as high as it once
was for Marvel for a lot of these things doesn't
mean it's not a good movie at the end of
the day. And I think a lot of people are
equating that even with Like I didn't mention it beforehand,
but there's been a lot of talk online. I don't
know if you've seen it with the Superman stuff, where
the Snyder bros. Are coming out with the numbers for

(22:46):
Superman Returns a Man of Steel, and they're using the
inflation numbers to try and validate Oh see, it's more
pos it didn't make as much as as this one.
The New Superman didn't make as much, and you know,
all this discussion and stupid discussion about it rather than
celebrate the movie for what it was a good optimistic
view of Superman. But it's just it's I don't know,

(23:08):
I bring that up, just say it's dumb. And the
way we talk about some of these things online.

Speaker 3 (23:13):
And Batman Begins, I forget. I gotta look it up,
but it just gets dwarfed by the Batman. And let
me look at the I'm gonna take a quick gander
at the Batman Begins box office numbers. I remember, it's tiny,
It's okay, it's three hundred and seventy five million dollars
for Batman Begins. I'm not gonna sit here and tell
you that Batman Begins is a terrible movie. It's actually,

(23:37):
honestly one of my favorite movies ever done in the
comic book genre. I think its story is actually better
than The Dark Knight.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
I like it.

Speaker 3 (23:47):
I just think the performance by Heath Ledgers just puts
The Dark Knight over the top. I'm not gonna sit
here and tell you that just because of how it
performed in the box office, three hundred and seventy five
million is out what I said. Three hundred and seventy
five globally. Globally, that's a global number. Is makes it
makes it any less than the Batman that came out

(24:09):
a couple of years ago with Robert Pattens, and you
just I'm not gonna see him tell you that because
I don't think that's the case. I like, Batman begins
better now. I don't think you can just man, I
don't like rehashing all this stuff because we've talked about
this before. Say, here's the thing. You have to consider
the fact what has happened in between the releases of

(24:34):
Superman Returns and the Man of Steel and things that
happened that are outside of the movies. Now, Man of
Steel was the return of I guess a different version
of Superman, A a version that we're that's like a

(24:55):
kind of I would say, not a spin off the
Christopher Reeves, because that's all we sleep Superman Returns. You
have this fresh new take, cool. People want to go
watch it now. Batman versus Superman objectively a terrible movie
made more than Man of Steel. Are you gonna sit

(25:15):
in here and tell me Man of Steel was worse
than Batman Versus Superman? No, you can't tell me that.
Reviews won't tell you that. People on the street won't.

Speaker 1 (25:25):
Tell you that.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
What that movie did. Plus the Justice League movie, which
was shot right after that, and then you released the
Suicide Squad. Right, those movies made a boatload of money.
No excuse me, Batman Versus Superman and Suicide Squad made

(25:48):
a boatload of money. You know what else those two
movies did, including the Justice League, absolutely just destroyed the
DC image, absolutely destroyed it. You the trust that people
put in that uh put in that brand in WB

(26:10):
prior to those movies was just it was blind trust,
right and then and then and then Suicide Squad came
out and and and took took stuff and slapped you
over the face with it. Uh and and it's just
it's very hard to recover from that. And you can
tell from the box office numbers and the movies that

(26:32):
came out afterwards that were actually pretty decent, like the
well this the Suicide Squad had the pandemic thing going on,
but and this was I think all of this was
post pandemic. But the Birds of Prey, which was actually
a pretty good movie, actually a great movie with great choreography,
didn't do very well in the box office. And I'm

(26:53):
not gonna sit here and tell you that that's the
worse movie than the you know, Justice League movie and
and uh, the Suicide Squad movie. Like I just I'm
not going to tell you that. But it's just like
how and I think the Superman stuff with Zack Snyder,

(27:14):
plus the box office stuff that the trends that we've
been seeing, it's a miracle that Superman made this much movie.
I really think it's a miracle. And it's it's you're
essentially starting over and asking fans to forgive them for
what they've suffered through, and you're and the hardest thing

(27:34):
to do is to ask for their faith again and
to trust something that has broken their hearts, all within
a span of less than twenty years. Right, It's just
it's not it's not easy to do. And I think
that's where we're gonna that's what we got with Superman.

(27:55):
And Superman is doing great at the box office, by
the way, It's currently sitting at five hundred and fifty
one million, and like you compare that to the rest
of what it's around, it's it's great. It's doing great.
And I I'll go on a limb here and say
second release of Superman is gonna it's gonna do seven eight,

(28:15):
nine hundred million dollars. And I can almost guarantee you.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
That last thing before we move on to all the
Spider Man stuff.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
Sorry, sorry to just I feel like I'm speaking.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
Nine no, No, you're good, You're good. I want you
on that soapbox. Jong. I like to hear that Jong good,
a good Jong rant, because I think it's I think
you're right. One last thing though, before we move on
to Spider Man. When you were reading off the top
ten and going into what was it, number twelve, Sinners

(28:47):
was probably the only original one. We don't know too
much about Nieja too, so I can't say to that.
But it also feels like to me that people are
going to spend money on things that they know because
they are expensive, So you probably want to spend on
something you know rather than you don't. I think also

(29:09):
kind not a huge play, but I think it does
play into how things go.

Speaker 3 (29:15):
Yeah, yeah, I think man, is there anything big releasing
the rest.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
Of this year for superhero stuff?

Speaker 3 (29:30):
No?

Speaker 1 (29:31):
Yeah, you have Trying to think offhand, it's like a
lot of like caught Stealing is coming out with Austin Butler.
Of course, Predator bad Lands, which I'm excited for November seventh,
Running Man with Glenn Powe's November seventh as well. Uh oh,
the big one probably of the year would be Avatar
when that comes out. Oh, okay, okay, fire, Fire and Ash.

(29:55):
I believe okay.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
I think that's a litmus test too, and I think
that's also the anom only too. Yeah, I would say
it probably won't get affected to I could easily. I
could easily see that thing making eight nine hundred million
dollars and opening at one hundred and fifty million. Remember

(30:18):
when one hundred and fifty million was like, wasn't that impressive? Yeah,
we were. We got on a run where I think
MCU movies started making like two hundred million opening weekend
and we're like, oh man, And then I think Black
Panther released, and yeah, it went crazy, and then I
think it was in that in that couple of years,
it was just absolutely crazy. But yeah, man, for the

(30:39):
rest of the year, yeah, I you know, it seems
like there's a good amount of stuff that's going to
come out and I'm not I'm not gonna SERI here
and say that that that Ryan Gosling movie, I forget
what was called the one where he's like the last
He's like the last uh hope for mankind and they
send them into space.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
The new one that's coming out Project Hill Mary.

Speaker 3 (31:03):
Yeah, that one looks interesting. That one looks good. And
I know I've I had a friend that said that
he read the book and it was pretty good. But obviously,
I think when you look at books and movies, and
I think he could always you know, books are probably
always superior to movies. But no, I think for the
rest of the year there'd be a lot of good releases.
And I did look up Nija is a semi original

(31:25):
ip It's it's based off of the Chinese my mythology,
but it's also based I don't know if this is
I guess this isn't considered original just because it's also
taken from a sixteenth century novel, so I guess it's
not completely original. But oh, sorry, what was your question?

(31:48):
I went on a tangent.

Speaker 1 (31:50):
I don't remember. I don't remember, I will say really quickly.
I just stumbled upon Nija one, which made let's see
seven hundred and twenty six million when it came out
in twenty nineteen, which twenty nineteen. This is where you
referenced earlier. We're never going to get to pre COVID

(32:11):
numbers because guess how many billion dollar movies there were
in twenty nineteen.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
Uh, twenty nineteen. Was that a Endgame?

Speaker 1 (32:19):
That was endgame?

Speaker 3 (32:21):
Hmmm? I mean obviously I don't even remember. I mean
obviously Endgame being one of them. I want to say
like maybe three, I honestly don't remember what came out.
I want to say.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
Three nine billion dollar movies.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
Okay, that's just that's just crazy. Okay, now I just
put I just pulled up the box office. This is crazy. Yes, okay, okay,
all right, endgame line, King, Frozen two, which I think
Frozen two would probably hit a billion dollars if it
came out this year, Spider Man, Far from Homes, Captain
Marvel Joker, Episode God Episode nine, Toy Story four, which

(33:03):
again I think Toy Story four comes out today, probably
gets close to that billion dollars, and Aladdin. I'm going
to read off the movies that won't die. I would
almost guarantee you wouldn't hit a billion dollars if it
came out today. I don't Captain Marvel Joker, episode episode nine.

(33:24):
I'm gonna say episode nine, Aladdin, Lion King. That's five
five of the nine I would say would not hit
a billion dollars billion dollars if it came out today.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
Yeah, probably not probably.

Speaker 3 (33:36):
And that's just that's oh well, Nieja came out, Yeah
that year two. That's just just like, you know, that's
just what, you know, the you know what, the day
and age that we're living in, Like Jumanji Next Level
would not make eight hundred million dollars, it wouldn't.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
No, uh yeah. So I always think about twenty nineteen
because I think it was just a ridiculous year when
it comes to movie going and just movies in general.
Something like even How to Train Your Dragon Hidden World
was fourteenth at five hundred and twenty one million. That
would put it what that would put it eighth or ninth, like,

(34:17):
it would be way higher than what it was in
twenty nineteen. So, I mean, it's just it's weird when
you look at it, but you kind of know there
was a big thing that happened in twenty twenty as
well as other factors, and there's just a lot of
factors at play in terms of movie going, and it's
just we're never gonna reach those those numbers quite like that.

(34:38):
But a film, I guess has the chance to perform
very well and has a chance to make a billion
next year. Spider Man Brand Down Day, which I think
when we talk about superheroes and superhero fatigue and all that,
because I saw somebody online saying something about, Oh, I
wonder what's this gonna do to Spider Man's box office numbers.

(35:00):
Spider Man Batman I think are in a different league,
you know, like they're I think they're kind of not
quite invincible, but they are in a different league. And
when you talk about Spider Man, I think that one's
gonna do well. Whether you believe in superhero fatigue or not,
like that one's gonna do well. But we got a
lot of news about spider Man Brand New Day over

(35:22):
the last few days because I think it was Spider
Man Like Day or something like that on August first,
and we got a new look or our first look
at the new suit that Tom Holland and Spider Man
will be wearing in spider Man Brand New Day with
an actual like video. He comes out and you see
the suit. There's been a lot of step photos. There's
a viral video of him engaging with a fan in

(35:44):
the suit, so we've gotten a lot of looks at
the new suit. What do you think of the suit
that Tom Holland will be wearing in Spider Man Brand
New Day Now?

Speaker 3 (35:54):
In that release video, the blue looked a lot darker,
but I'm looking that set photos, the blue actually looks
semi bright. It's still I think it's still part of
like the the Home I'm going to say the Home trilogy, uh,

(36:15):
where it has that lighter blue color in the sun.
I'm seeing him on top of a tank with with
the with the what's called the cables on, and it
does look brighter than what he what it showed when
he walked into that dark room. So I think lighting
has a big factor in it. I like it, you know.
I think it also also pays uh homage to the

(36:39):
two predece sisters before him, but also keeps the centerpiece
of that Spider also kind of has a very Home
trilogy feel to it, and also obviously like the way
the Spider looks has is paying homage to both Andrew
mcgre Andrew McGuire, Andrew Garfield and Toby maguire Spider Man,

(37:01):
and same with the raised webbing on.

Speaker 1 (37:05):
The suit too.

Speaker 3 (37:06):
I really I think I've it's grown on me a
lot more in the past since they've shown it. But yeah,
I think it looks good.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
I like it too, And I wonder if there is
going to be a way that they maybe they don't
acknowledge how like he came up with this design or
anything like that. But I do wonder if it's not
only just the film paying homage to Andrew, Garfield and Toby,
but the actual Tom Hollins Peter Parker paying homage to

(37:39):
Toby and Andrew or Peter one Peter two because of
what they all went through and kind of acknowledging what
they meant to him, even for a short bit. I
have to wonder if that is going to play a
little bit, maybe not obviously be a big plot point,
but just a little bit of a oh this is
why I just find it this way?

Speaker 3 (38:01):
Yeah. Uh, And you know, a couple of years have
passed since the events of Doctor Strange, Doctor Strange, Oh
though the last No Way Home, so obviously I think
you would expect, you know, suit upgrades for for Spider Man.
Somebody I'm going through social media, somebody photoshopped him in

(38:24):
pink and deal said, screw, it's just just a joke. No,
But I think, uh, yeah, I it wouldn't surprise me
if they don't. They omit that omit him talking about it.
But uh, I expected to be addressed. You know, maybe

(38:48):
I wouldn't say he's like, you know, fawning over those
two still now, But I think, you know, maybe, uh,
I don't know. I don't I don't think it needs
to be addressed, but I wouldn't be surprised if it does.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
Yeah, it's it's not that it would need to be
addressed or anything like that, but maybe there's a little
bit of dialogue somewhere that kind of like, oh, he's
doing that because of Peter one Peter two kind of thing.
And I think that would be just a cool thing
to do because it does feel like those other costumes.
And then the Spider Man logo is a little bit different,
more akin to what Toby and Andrew wore, and like

(39:22):
you mentioned, the raised webbing more akin to what Toby wore.
Of course, so I like the design and I like
them getting out ahead of it because obviously they were
going to do a lot of outside shooting over the
next couple of days. Hence, while we're getting so many
different videos of Spider Man on set, now we still
don't really know the main plot of this movie, but

(39:44):
we got some more clues. Of course, we knew John
Birthnall is going to be in this movie, which he
got to glow up with his new Punisher look. But
we also got news from the Hollywood Reporter that Mark
Ruffalo is set to return as Bruce Banner this movie
and Spider Man brand new day, as well as Michael Mandow,

(40:05):
who of course, if you remember Michael Mandow, he played
Scorpion in Spider Man Homecoming. So nine years later, we're
gonna finally get that payoff. I guess yeah, it'd be
nine years We're finally going to get that Scorpion payoff.
What did you think of the additions of Bruce Banner
and Scorpion to the cast.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
Yeah, I don't know what to make of Bruce Banner,
uh into I I if you've listened to the podcast,
I absolutely love John Perthonol being added to added to
the the you know, the cast, and we're just waiting
for the other two shoes to drop Daredevil Kingpin, which

(40:46):
I don't think is gonna happen. I'm still holding my breath.
But Michael, you know, Michael Mandow being added to uh,
the movie kind of I'm not gonna say, I'm like
like super stoked for him to be at but I'm
more excited about what that means to the larger scope
of this trilogy, is we're going to get a Sinister

(41:09):
six and this could be the start of the Siniastor six. Now,
there are rumors and leaked set photos of Mister Negative
existing in this universe in this day, and we've also
had We've also had what do you call it, hints

(41:29):
of Feast right, so in the last Spider Man movie.
So there's subtle hints of mister Negative being introduced in
maybe in this movie and possibly as maybe the leader
of the Sinastor six, or it could be somebody else.
But I like the direction that it's headed, right. It

(41:53):
seems like we're going to get the Sinator six eventually
and maybe the Symbia sometimes sometime down the line.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
I am more like I mentioned this on social media
and Megan of Vigilanti Vibes podcast. She was kind of
with me on this. I was asking, is it bad
that I'm more excited about the Scorpion news than the
Hulk news, Like, I think the whole news is fine,
but kind of like what you're saying, I think seeing

(42:21):
and what that Scorpion character means for the greater universe.
And again, a character that we haven't seen the Scorpions
suit in live action. We haven't seen that character play
a role outside of comics and animated shows and things
like that, and even video games as well. So to
see Scorpion, what I would imagine a true Scorpion in

(42:43):
this movie is going to be like, it's my little
nerd happy. Michael is very excited for this possibility of
what the character can be because Scorpion is a big
part of your friendly neighborhood Spider Man. And while I've
talked about it, I'm not a big and of that
animation style. I think the story is very very well done,

(43:03):
and what they do with Scorpion in in that show
I think is something that they not necessarily replicate. But
you could do something very interesting with Scorpion in this
movie and have Spider Man going up against possibly both
him and Mister Negative. I think presents some interesting challenges
for our Peter Parker to follow. I like the theory that, uh,

(43:25):
there's a an account I follow called Bobby Reid's comics,
and he had this theory that I wanted to oppose
to you, and I thought it was a very interesting one.
He said. His plot theory for it was Peter Parker
starts fresh at Empire State University, befriending Carly Cooper played
by Sadie Sink his guests, and attending challenging classes with

(43:48):
doctor Bruce Banner. While quietly watching over Ned and MJ.
He investigates a brutal gang war between Mac Gargan's Scorpions
and Mister Negative's inner demons. When Frank Cash Frank Hassle
the Punisher arrives with his ruthless crusade, Spider Man missdavigated
city on the edge of chaos. I thought all that
was very interesting because I could kind of see that

(44:11):
being where they go with this one. One of the
because one of the other aspects is people were like, oh,
Spider Man has his adult chaperone again with Bruce Banner.
I don't I don't know that he's going to at
least I hope it's not just him be Tony Stark
in this movie. I would imagine they do something different
with him and have him just play a small role

(44:32):
in this movie and not be this bigger figure that
looms or helps Peter in in certain ways.

Speaker 3 (44:39):
You know, what I can see him being if this
theory does hold, is him being more of a doctor
Connor's kind of role where it is minor, but he
also can lean on him for he can lean on
him for advice and present him with things right, because
Peter obviously knows, you know, he shared a battlefield with

(45:02):
the Hulk, so yeah, with the Hulk and Bruce Banner,
so he you know, he knows, he knows him, whether
or not Bruce doesn't. And there are theories running online
that when Bruce does turn into the Hulk, that that
he still remembers the ban that that only Banner forgot,
which I don't. I'm not sure. I'm very a big

(45:25):
fan of that, but there are those, you know, possibilities,
And yeah, I think being not a mentor but like
a a teacher, a professor makes some sense, and I
think I wouldn't be opposed to that and if that's
the way they want to use it, because I Rageful

(45:46):
Hoak Hulk, and I don't know if I want to
see Punisher taking on the Hulk and it just just
because it takes it'll take away a lot from Spider Man.
And I think that's one of the big complaints is
that you're taking the first trilogy, is that you're taking

(46:08):
so much away from Spider Man that you're introducing these
threats that are typically not Spider Man threats that they're
not Doctor Octopus, they're not you know, Shocker a little bit,
they're not you know, they're not those types of villains
for Spider Man, and you're just interjecting, you know, MCU

(46:31):
villains into it. I don't know how I would feel
about it if if the evengeful like a rage Phil
Hulk is loose in New York City and he's tasked
to stop it, right right, I do? I want them
so much to lean into the Sinistor sixth aspect of it,
because three movies is not a lot to build up
a sinasor six It really isn't. And then you're talking

(46:52):
about like possibly incorporating the Symbia like, which is such
a big storyline in Spider Man like you, that's something
that you kind of want to do and then and
you know, establish a sentasor six in these in this
next trilogy, Like, it's not a lot of time, and
so I hope that they don't waste I don't want

(47:13):
to say waste. I hope they don't take anough, you know,
precious screen time into introducing like aventual Hulk that he
has to a racheful Hulk that he has to take down.

Speaker 1 (47:22):
Yeah. One of the other ideas is that mister Negative
could corrupt doctor This is going back to Bobby Reid's comics.
He said, quote A few people have also suggested that
mister Negative could corrupt Doctor Banner and maybe give up
Gray Hulk. And I want to go back to one
other thing because you brought it up about like Spider
Man fighting or Punisher fighting Hulk and all that. In

(47:42):
the Hollywood Reporter article they said at the very end
of the article, they said, quote the plot details are
being kept under the under the vest, but you can
bet that in the Mighty Marvel Manner, Spider Man, Punisher
and Hulk will all fight one another before figuring out
who the real bad guys are, and then of course
people ran with it, a gated it and said, oh,
they're going to fight in this movie. I don't. I'm

(48:05):
going to be on the limb of I don't think
they fight. I think Hulk and Punisher are more about
making the world feel more like lived in with the
heroes and everything, kind of like what Superman was doing
with establishing the Justice League of America's society whatever it
was called, excuse me, the Justice Gang, just establishing that

(48:30):
these characters are alive in this world. Maybe Spider Man
runs into Punisher if it is in fact like a
gang war of some kind and he has to deal
with Punisher. But I think the characters being brought in
are more to enhance the lived in world rather than
take the focus away from Spider Man. Yes, it will
be cool to see them, but I don't think it's

(48:51):
going to turn into like Avengers two point five or
like a civil war where all these characters are interacting
and fighting with each other. I feel like they would
do more to help enhance the world and do that
world building in this case, because that was my concern is, oh,
that's that's a lot of characters in this movie. But
if you think about it, if it's done in the

(49:12):
way of just building the world, I think it could work.

Speaker 3 (49:17):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, Like you, you would have to
frame it that way and not do it to where
you've like like you were saying civil war, that's the
that's the wrong way to approach it. Now. I you know,
several years ago, would my faith have been much better
than it is today? Yes? Do I Uh do I

(49:41):
question whether they are going to go against what people want.
I don't know, just because of our faith with the
MCU has been a little tested, and it's been a
little you know, uh, I wouldn't say betrayed, but uh

(50:04):
man even but like you know, I want this to
be a soft re start to what can be a
great trilogy of just Spider Man, your neighborhood, friendly, neighborhood
spider Man. And maybe it was unfair to Spider Man

(50:30):
to be thrusted upon Civil War and that was our
which at the time was a great introduction, by the way,
and and we you know, I said that, you said it.
We didn't need another Uncle Ben dying and and you
know all that kind of thing. What I wish they
would do through throughout that which which I wish what
I wish they would have done throughout the the Watts

(50:51):
trilogy was to sprinkle in mentions of Uncle Ben more
than they did and kind of make him a you know,
at least say somewhat a key figure in that the
way to show him how much Uncle Ben made Peter Peter.
And I know they tried to do that with Aunt May,
which you know works, but I you know, I think,

(51:13):
you know, having thrown in Uncle Ben in there would
have been nice. But I think, you know, going back
to the Spider Man roots would be really really nice
for this trilogy and having it very Spider Man focused
would be very cool and nice. Yeah, which is which
is weird because we always want things bigger and badder
and more explosions and more interconnecting, and I think we've

(51:36):
gotten to a place where we don't want interconnecting anymore.
This is crazy. We had twenty years of that or
ten years of that, and now we're kind of like,
let's kind of go back to basics. It's almost like
fashion trends, you know, baggy things are in again. But yeah,
I kind of want a more emotional story with Peter,

(51:59):
maybe possibly doing more at feast, getting introduced to mister
Negative and you know it's I I think it Behoove,
Sony and and uh and in the MCU, if you know,
you find a Martin Lee helping Pete, help Peter helping

(52:21):
Martin Lee run feast, and then you can even build
up Martin Lee and mister slash mister Negative over the
course of three movies and be the big bad and
the leader of uh Sin the Sinister Six and have
big face off at the end. I think that emotionally
would be very connecting. And you don't see Mister Negative
until second movie. Like that, I think is something that

(52:44):
I would love, like build a universe within your own
universe and lead up to something I think would be
in terms of you know, emotional you know things kind
of what like the Guardians did, right you kind of
you know they're of the MCU, but they've also established
their own little universe and you've were made to care

(53:06):
about a raccoon in a tree, So I kind of
want that for a Spider Man.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
And again I think this one, I do think they're
they're headed in the right direction where it's less about
world ending stakes and more about stakes for New York
and just your friendly neighborhood like that friendly neighborhood in
New York, and Spider Man going doing as much as
he can by himself this time around to save the

(53:32):
city and just help people in general. I do wonder
if Punisher the because the Punisher inclusion always was like,
why why are we introducing him? And maybe it's just
a run in with him, but it also the ideology
of of of Punisher goes against what obviously Peter would think,
and so I wonder if introducing that not necessarily to

(53:52):
have a Daredevil Punisher type fight of ideology, because we've
seen that, but maybe it's something that showcases the anger
that that Frank has and and maybe that anger is
seeded into Peter in some way that then, of course
leads to the Symbia, and of course that what the

(54:13):
Symbia does in enhancing Peter's more angry tendencies, if you will.
So I wonder if that's kind of the seeds being
planted for that eventual storyline.

Speaker 3 (54:24):
Yeah, I mean all that, you know, that's uh. I
think everything we're talking about now is kind of definitely
a shift from what they did in the first of
the Watch trilogy and kind of like the road that
I think a lot of people want them to go down.
And I think all of that is is good. It's
all that's good. And I think moving away from the
other stuff is at least for now, is it's very good.

(54:46):
And then having him, you know, in the future, come
in and out of you know, Avengers movies and all
that kind of thing, and then keep his solo stuff
to himself. And I think I think that, I think
if we at least get a baseline of that, I
think all of us will be happy.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Oh yeah, for sure. I love what we may be
setting up here, and to tell these stories that we
got obviously with Toby, when we got a little bit
with Andrew, not to the as good of a degree,
but we were hopefully building to that with with Peter
our Tom holland Peter Parker this time around. And again
I think people are making much ado about the adult chaperone.

(55:23):
I think I think we're making I think they understand
that they did that, They've been there, done that, and
they're not going to do that again. It may be
in a role kind of like what you're saying, a
Kirk Connor's role for Bruce Banner, and if it's just
something small like that. I think this film works on
a lot of levels. I don't need to see Hulk
raging out in this one. I just I want to

(55:45):
see Spider Man doing this thing, fighting off Scorpion, fighting
off mister Negative or you know, building towards mister nagative,
whatever it may be. I want to see Spider Man
doing Spider Man things rather than this trio fighting each other.
There may be a little conflict with Punisher, I could
see that happening, but with Hull, I don't need to
see that in this one.

Speaker 3 (56:06):
But with the way Punisher was introduced, in the way
Frank has kind of played out, does it make sense though?
I'm trying to think of it this way, because like
earlier versions of the Punisher were where he did have
a thing with Matt Murdoch, that version makes sense to

(56:29):
go after Spider Man, this one that's hardened, that doesn't
want to be pulled out of anything, that was essentially
living in the I don't know, what do you call it,
a subway, a basement like kind of isolating himself with
society and all that crap was happening, you know, above ground,
with you know, people using his logo to basically further

(56:52):
their agenda, Like he didn't come up for that until
he finally was kind of dragged out there by Matt. Like,
I don't know if that version of Punisher fits this.
I guess we'll see, because there's also the special presentation
that's going to be coming out that will probably bridge
the two appearances together, and then we may see maybe

(57:14):
a rejuvenized Punisher and then that kind of turns his
attention to Spider Man.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
Maybe Yeah. I think also Season two of Daredevil Born
Again is going to release some time in March, which
would be ahead of oh okay ahead of it as well,
so that may help. But I also think it could
be more of less Punisher going after Spider Man and
more of just them happening to run into each other
m hm, and Spider Man trying to prevent him from
murdering criminals in some way, Like it's just they kind

(57:41):
of run into each other because of maybe it is
the like what Bobby Read's Comics was saying, maybe it
is a gang war of some kind between Scorpions group
and Mister Negative's group. If Mister Negative is in fact
in this movie, maybe it is something more where they
just happen to run into each other and have to
fight it out that way way.

Speaker 3 (58:01):
Man. Uh, it's so crazy. We just have one missing
piece to this thing and we're stuck because of our rights.

Speaker 1 (58:08):
It's you.

Speaker 3 (58:11):
Yeah, the trio of uh you know yeah, Spider Man,
Punisher and uh and and Daredevil is like it's just
ingrained in my memory as a kid watching the Saturday
Morning cartoon when you know Punisher and and and Daredevil,
you know, shared an episode or two I think on
uh on that show, and Uh, I just keep going

(58:34):
back to that, and I'm just like holding my hopes
out for that, but I I just yeah, I think
I think I will die if I hold my breath
too long.

Speaker 1 (58:43):
Uh, really quickly before we move on to Eyes of
conductcause I do want to highlight that just real quick
breaking news that just came out right before we started recording. Uh.
Sony Pictures Animation, according to Deadline, is in early development
on a Spider Punk animated feature from co writer Daniel
Kalua and a Jon Singh, and plot details are under

(59:04):
wraps and there are no other deals in place at
this time. The natural assumption, of course, is that Khalua
will reprise the role of Spider Punk, which he played
in twenty twenty threes Spider Man Across the Spider Verse
from Sony Pictures Animation, and will reprise in the studios
upcoming Spider Man Beyond the Spider Verse. Excited for a
Spider Punk animated.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
Film if they are true to the way that they
did the hit that version in the Beyond movie. Absolutely, yeah,
you know, I think I want to say most people probably,
I think that character and mister Terrific I think have

(59:44):
the same type of energy from fans is like, you
have to do something with this character outside of this movie,
and I think this is I think it's it's nothing
but a positive thing to put this. I can't believe
they haven't greenlit more from the Spider Man Across, Across
and Beyond movies. Like I'm surprised, you know. I know

(01:00:04):
they're working on newir but like it's like, come on, man,
like you had I know, animation takes a long time,
but I at least likes get something on the books,
you know, get something working. It's it's weird to me
and maybe and maybe they'll do it after the next
movie where you do have the Miles Morales, that's the Prowler.
Maybe give it a not a true I don't know

(01:00:26):
if you want to do a trilogy, but you know,
have something else outside of it to tell that story.
I don't know, but I'm glad that they're at least
going with spider Punk. And I'm very surprised that it
took them this long to green light it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
Yeah. Same, I'm surprised they haven't done more in the
animated space. I am excited for that. I'm also excited
for another animated show that I know you haven't had
a chance to watch as of yet. But Isa Wakonda
released on Friday on Disney Plus. We're supposed to release
later this month, and then they moved it up to
Friday August. First episodes all short, about thirty thirty minutes

(01:01:04):
a piece or so, maybe twenty five to thirty minutes
a piece or so. Isaawakanda is telling. It's an anthology
series that tells different stories of different eras of what
was the group called war Dogs that go outside of
Wakanda to find missing artifacts that were stolen from Wakanda

(01:01:24):
years and years ago. You focus on Noni in the
first episode, memnon in the second episode, Agent Basha in
the third episode, and then Kudah and Tafari in the
last episode. Jong we were talking about it beforehand about
you know, you're dedicating time to stuff that's worth your time,

(01:01:45):
and I do think with the length of episodes, the
amount of episodes, I think this is worth your time.
I think it's it does something very interesting with the
Wakanda aspect of the universe in Marvel. I think it
tells some interesting stories and the animation is really well done.
I fell in love with the show. I really enjoyed
my time with it, and I think the way I

(01:02:07):
think episode four might be my favorite, with how it
ties into everything, not just in the show, but in
the in the larger MCU, and I think it's a
smart way to tie it but not overdo it and
make it where I don't know how to say it
without spoiling, but it's just that there's a smart way
to go about tying things into into the universe, the

(01:02:28):
greater universe, and I think they found that balance here
really really well. It's a it's a phenomenal show that
ties into historical events as well and plays in the
historical fiction aspect and in greater themes like it's not
just a it's definitely not a kid's animation, Like it
is a kid's animation to a certain extent, but it

(01:02:49):
is bloody, like a dude gets an axe in the
head in the first first episode, like it's it's they
cut away from it, but there's moments where people are
getting sliced and diced. And I don't know, I just
I loved what this show set out to do, and
I think it's mission accomplished. And I hope Marvel Studios
does more things like this, not necessarily having to tie

(01:03:12):
into the greater MCU, but just stories like this, Like
this is the type of animation and type of stories
that I would like to see from Marvel, showcasing wa
conduct through the years, or just showcasing different parts of
Marvel that we don't get to explore in live action.
I think there's a playground, a sandbox, if you will,
and they played in that really, really well. Music's good.

(01:03:33):
Stories are good, characters are interesting. Are they a little short? Yeah? Probably?
But I never felt like I felt with what if
and what if? I felt like stories were rushed, bigger
stories that felt like they needed more time to simmer
or Marinate. This didn't necessarily feel like that. These felt
like one off stories that could be told in the

(01:03:54):
amount of time and again done very well.

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:03:59):
I didn't know this was out well.

Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
Because it was supposed to be August twenty seventh. Then
I don't know, last minute they just released it on Friday.
They moved it up and released it on Friday. I
don't know why that was.

Speaker 3 (01:04:09):
Dude, that's crazy. Yeah, I don't know. Why are you
doing this to your product like this Ironheart that got
absolutely no marketing, which behooves me or befuddles me, And
I don't know why, but I used that word wrong.
It boohooves Disney to do something like that, like they

(01:04:33):
should have and they didn't, and it befuddles me that
they didn't. But yeah, that's crazy. Like I knew this
was coming out like soon, but yeah, it's very surprising
that it came. Like I was like, oh, I didn't
even know, Like when you mentioned it when we were
having our quick pre show chat, I was like, I did.

Speaker 1 (01:04:50):
Not know that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:53):
Yeah, they're each under I mean with I would imagine
with credits. They're about twenty seven twenty eight minutes. Yeah,
the longest one is thirty two minutes, and that's with credits,
intro and credits. I would imagine this thing is about
twenty six twenty. I will probably fly through this thing
like I flew through murder Bot.

Speaker 1 (01:05:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:05:14):
Yeah, murder Bot is a very easy watch. If you
guys haven't seen it, I imagine this is a very easy watch.
And I'm all for easy watches, and so I will
probably rip through these while I'm like washing dishes or something.
But yeah, yeah, I'm gonna get on this man.

Speaker 1 (01:05:34):
Yeah it's a quick like I said, it's a quick watch,
and yeah you can. You can go through it. I
went through it in one night. Like it's It never
feels like a chore. It feels like a good addition
to the universe and interesting, like it has something to
say about larger narratives and these smaller characters and smaller
stories that I think is very interesting. And then also
just to see what kinda through the years and how

(01:05:57):
their technology is so different from everybody else's I thought
was really cool. The action sequences are really cool. There
is a showdown, if you will, in the first episode
between a character named Noni who we follow and the
antagonist of that episode the Lion that is really well done.
I think if we could get more animation style this

(01:06:19):
way too, and not the what if style, I think
would be a smart decision. Whatever story you tell, and
could i've used like maybe two more episodes, Sure, Yeah,
I think I think they had enough story here where
you could have done a couple more episodes or highlighted
a couple other black panthers in history or war dogs

(01:06:40):
in history. Like, I think there's some cool stories to tell.

Speaker 3 (01:06:44):
Yeah, I in very surprised if it's thirty minutes wise,
if four episodes, that's a that's a little befuddling the
trend of b words. But that's befuddling to me that
it's so short and there's only four episodes, which I'm
not like necessarily complaining about all that much because I

(01:07:06):
think if you can squeeze in a great story in
the middleness amount of episodes, I think it's fantastic, which
I'm not saying like every show needs to be like
four to six episodes, but no, if you can tell
a coherent story and it doesn't take away from the story,
and you can tell a way what you can develop
these characters within those four episodes that are thirty minutes.
That it's entire season, it's under two hours. It's just crazy. Yeah,

(01:07:29):
but yeah, you know, I'm for it, But yeah, that's
it's crazy. I would imagine that it would have been
at least six to eight episodes. It's that's crazy to
me that it's only uh, it's so short.

Speaker 1 (01:07:41):
Yeah, you learn enough about each character to where you
can you can root for them, you can care for them,
like nony I really like Noni's character. By the end
of it left me wanting more, like whether it's a
comic or something like, maybe expand upon her a little
bit more, because she does become a big figure in
the world of Wakanda and dogs. Her character is referenced

(01:08:03):
by another character in that like episode four, and when
you look at the time between those those two episodes,
one's happening in whatever period and the others happening in
the eighteen hundreds or something like that. Like, it's interesting
to see like a character reference another one from history.

(01:08:23):
And I think that's one of the key things that
makes us feel so different is from a historical perspective.
It brings a unique twist to Marvel lore and just
Wakandan history. Bringing that aspect into the MCU I thought
was really smart and really well done. And again the
fighting and the technology that they use for fights. Memnon

(01:08:45):
in episode two only uses his fists and it's phenomenal,
Like who needs swords when you can when you have
your fists. And I liked his character. I liked what
it sets up for him. Episode three is a little
bit more fun with Agent Basha and I don't want
to say the other character because I would rather you
get surprised by it, but like, there's some cool things

(01:09:07):
that happen in episode three, and I think episode four
ties everything up so well together that it was a
strength of the show. And it's worth it people's times
if they want to go check it out, Asa wall
Conduct It's on Disney Plus right now. Four episodes. Like
we're just saying, it's under two hours when you put
it all together, really, so it's very much worth a watch.

Speaker 3 (01:09:28):
Uh yeah, I'm gonna definitely take a take a watch.
And I did sneak a peek at the thumbnails and
looks like iron Fist is in one of them.

Speaker 1 (01:09:40):
Yep, that's the Episode three is a very cool thing
that's that's developed there.

Speaker 3 (01:09:47):
Yeah, Okay, I don't know if I like this animation style,
like it screams Pixar to me, like the just the
way it looks. I don't know. Maybe I'm just a
old man complaining now about animation styles, but I don't know,

(01:10:09):
Like I wish they would go back to more of
a a two D kind of not like it's not
two D, but like kind of like what X Men
ninety seven is. Yes, I kind of wish they would
go back to that type of animation style, which I
surprised that they have, I think because like the thumbnail
floor Episode two looks like a freaking hercules or something.

(01:10:29):
Uh that that like the big the big eyes, that
the the over glowy skinned. I don't know. I I'm
just just looking at pictures. I'm not a big fan
of it, but you'll win me over if you do
a good story.

Speaker 1 (01:10:47):
Yeah. I think the story will went out yeah, because
I can I understand it. And for me, the animation
was fine. I think the bigger like complain I have
with animation that's more three is like the what iff style.
I don't, I don't I've never enjoyed that. Fully, I'm
surprised that Marvel Studios doesn't do more with animation in

(01:11:10):
terms of doing something like like X Men ninety seven,
not necessarily setting it in the nineties, but just setting
like doing things with that style. Like when I think
of DC animation, I think of a certain style, and
I wish we'd just got more of that, Like we
don't get what I was thinking of beforehand when in

(01:11:30):
terms of Marvel animation, Like there was a Planet Hulk
movie years ago, there was the Hulk Versus movies years ago,
there was the Doctor Strange movie, and then you know,
just different animated features from Marvel that we just don't
see as much. We see animated shows here and there,
but I would like to explore more animation and let
animation do its thing for these characters that we don't

(01:11:53):
get to see spend a lot of time with. Like
there's some interesting stories to tell that you can do
an animation that you maybe can't do in live action.

Speaker 3 (01:12:02):
Yeah, I mean there's a lot, like you were talking
about X n ninety seven, like the you can't do
any of that Genotias stuff. I don't think in live
action it would take it take a lot of money. Yeah,
I you know that that that's and and and make
it that good. I would imagine that they're going to
maybe try to recreate that somehow I'm in live action,
but I don't know if that would have ever worked.

(01:12:24):
But yeah, there's definitely stuff that you can't do, like
like the whole like I don't know why this sticks
out like a sore thumb to me, but the first movie,
First Black Panther movie, where the CGI looks a little
wonky at the very end, Like if it was animation,
that would have been it would have you could have
done a lot more and it could have looked a
lot better. But but yeah, like, yeah, you definitely could

(01:12:46):
do more with with the within animation that you could
in live action.

Speaker 1 (01:12:51):
Yeah, you can just have fun and and and tell
good stories like isaaa Konda does and and tell I
think important stories that that enhance again enhance it's the world.
And that's what Isaabaconda does. So I hope you enjoy
it when when you get a chance to watch it,
I think you'll. I think you will. But that's going
to do it. For issue six hundred and six of Comiccasts,
thank you all for listening wherever you are. We greatly

(01:13:12):
appreciate it. You can follow us on social media as always,
I'm at producer Mike nine seven.

Speaker 3 (01:13:16):
Five and I'm at one Punch and.

Speaker 1 (01:13:19):
Again, rate, review, share, or subscribe to this podcast on
whatever podcast platform you prefer. That would be cool. We
really appreciate it and we will talk to you guys
next week. See it