Ironheart Season 1 Review

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**SPOILER REVIEW**
• 0:00:00 - Introduction 
• 0:03:36 - No-Prize Time 
• 0:10:54 - Question of the Week 
• 0:11:38 - Ironheart Season 1 Review 
• 0:56:01 - Sign off 
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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is a DynaMic Network Podcast. Hi, welcome tothe Dynamic Duel podcast, a weekly show where we

(00:28):
review superhero films and debate thesuperiority between Marvel and DC by comparing
their characters in stat-based battlesimulations. I'm Johnny DC. And I'm his twin
brother, Marvelous Joe. And in this episode,we're going back to doing one of our review
episodes, this time a review of the Marveltelevision series, Ironheart, on Disney+. Yeah,

(00:50):
it's been a while since we've done a review. I don'tthink we've done one since the Thunderbolts movie
came out. We've been getting through a lot of theduel episodes, but this whole month of July is
going to be jam-packed with reviews. Yeah, notonly are we reviewing Ironheart, but also
Superman next week and two weeks after that,Fantastic Four. And then the week after that,
Sandman season two. So we hope you get out there andwatch this stuff, listen to our reviews, and then

(01:15):
we'll get back to the duels. Yeah, but before we getto our review, we're going to break down the comic
book movie news to come out this past week, which isa lie because there was none. Yeah, I do want to say
R.I .P. Julien McMahon, who played Dr. Doom in the2005 Fantastic Four franchise. He died of cancer
at age 56, which is way too young, way too fuckingyoung. So thoughts and condolences to his family

(01:40):
and friends. As always, we list our segment timesin our episode description, so feel free to check
out the show notes if you want to skip ahead to aparticular topic. Our artificially intelligent
duel simulator, AJ9K, has a quick message for ourlisteners. So listen up. Why hello there. Do you
want even more from this podcast? Then become apart of the dynamic dual community on Patreon,

(02:02):
where you can choose from three tiers. The Dynamic2.0 tier gives you access to our Discord chat
server. The Fantastic Four tier gives you twobonus episodes each month, and the X-Force tier
makes you an executive producer of this show.Lastly, the Dynamite podcast network tier lets
you create your own podcast using this Monte Carlosimulator. Johnny and Joe will help you develop

(02:23):
your show, provide graphic support andconsultation, and get you simulation results.
Pitch the twins your ideas via email atdynamicdualpodcast.com. Check it out at
Patreon.com slash DynamicDuel. Pip pip cheerio.Thanks AJ9K and thanks to everyone who supports
the podcast. Guys, be sure to tune in to the othershows on the DynaMic podcast network this week,

(02:45):
including the console combat podcast, wherehosts John and Dean simulate battles between
popular video game characters. In yesterday'sepisode, they determined who would win between
Crash Bandicoot and Bubsy. I remember Bubsy. Overon the Max Destruction podcast, hosts Scotty and
Gilly put your favorite action heroes from filmand television against each other. This week, the

(03:08):
show will be reviewing the Minecraft movie. And onthe Senjoh World podcast, hosts Zachary Hepburn
speculates on fights between fan favorite animeand manga characters. In his next episode, Zach's
going to reveal who would win between Aoi Toto ofJujutsu Kaisen and Ryo Shimizaki of MopPsycho
100. Visit dynamicpodcast.com or click the linkin our show notes to listen to all of the shows in the

(03:32):
DynaMic podcast network. But with that out of theway, quick to the no prize. A no prize is an award
that Marvel used to give out to fans. Our version,the dynamic duel no prize, is a digital award we
post on Instagram for the person that we feel gavethe best answer to our question of the week. Last
week, we asked you guys, what movie do you thinkwe'll be making more at the Worldwide Box Office?

(03:57):
Superman or Fantastic Four First Steps and why?And this question pertains to the entire
theatrical run at the Worldwide Box Office. We gota lot of answers. Let's go ahead and run down our
honorable mentions as well as the no prize winner.Our first honorable mention goes to Daniel
Alonzo. Who said? Oh, Fantastic Four is going todestroy Superman. I mean, people that aren't even

(04:20):
superhero fans want to see Pedro Pascal. So thatalone is going to bring people Marvel fans have
been waiting for a great Fantastic Four movie,which this looks amazing. I mean, I like the thing,
but I've never been a fan of Fantastic Four andneither have my brothers and we're all hyped to see
this movie. But Superman, dude, Superman sucks.Like, and not even DC fans want to watch this one.

(04:41):
What hope do they have? Really? I don't know,Daniel. I'm a DC fan. I want to watch it. Maybe you
suck. No, I think he's right. I think you guys haveno hope. I mean, like he said, the Fantastic Four
First Steps movie has Pedro Pascal. What star ouraudience is going to see in the Superman movie?

(05:03):
Rachel Brosnahan, bro. Really? Freakin' MissMaisel. Yeah. Okay, okay. Great answer, Daniel.
Our next honorable mention goes to Matt fromTexas. Who said? Hey guys, Matt from Texas here.
I'm going to preface this by saying I am going to seeboth of these movies. But for the film, my feel is
going to make the most worldwide. It's probablygoing to be Fantastic Four. Both have been getting

(05:27):
a lot of hate online. Superman more than FantasticFour. And I feel like more people enjoy the MCU and
want to see how this movie is going to connect to allthe future films coming out. And not many people
care about another Superman film. You know whatreally? Like I'm only seeing hype for this movie. I

(05:56):
think in general, there's a lot of hate for thesuperhero genre online, which saddens me because
you know, this is peak cinema just a few years ago.And all of a sudden, you know, the genre isn't as in
vogue as it once was pre-COVID. I just see a lot ofuninformed opinions when I scroll around out
there and it just, you know, it pisses me off to noend. So I've been kind of staying off social media

(06:20):
more than I already usually do. Because every timelike a Fantastic Four TV spot or Superman image
comes across my feed, it's just nothing butnegativity. Great answer, Matt. Our next
honorable mention goes to Travis Herndon, whosaid, What's up, dynamic dudes? Travis here,
shout out to me in between. So my answer would beFantastic Four. Why? Because Superman movie is a

(06:41):
dime a dozen. We have multiple Superman moviesthroughout the years. Now you can make the same
argument about Fantastic Four. But here's thething, Fantastic Four is back at Marvel. It's back
home with people that know what the hell they'redoing with it. Plus, it's part of a bigger
overarching story that's going on. Meanwhile,Superman is just a simple Superman movie. You know

(07:03):
what else is back home, Travis? Me at your mom'shouse. Since when are you so good with your
insults? Like, I put you down all the time when younever have good comebacks. I don't know, man. It
just gets to me when people talk about it atSuperman. I think he makes a good point, though, in
that this Fantastic Four movie is to the FantasticFour franchise as Spider-Man Homecoming was to

(07:28):
the Spider-Man franchise. You know, there havebeen multiple iterations of this throughout the
years, but I think people are aware that now thatthe franchise is back with Marvel Studios is going
to be more true to the spirit of the characters thanever before. I just have a really hard time
believing that people are really excited for aFantastic Four movie. Being that, like Travis

(07:49):
said, we have had multiple Fantastic Four movies.They haven't done as well as the best Superman
movie, both box office wise and critically. Like,we have yet to get a good Fantastic Four movie.
Which is why people are craving one. No one'scraving a Superman movie when they could just go
back and watch, you know, the Christopher Reevemovies, right? Or Man of Steel, depending on, you

(08:12):
know, what decade they grow up in. But a greatanswer, Travis. We want to give a quick shout out to
Kai-O-G, Lorenzo Valdes, and Peter Troll fortaking the time to visit our website and leave an
answer. Thank you guys so much. But the winner ofthis week's still prize is Alex Albro. Who said?
Hey guys, I think it'll ultimately be Supermanmaking more money largely because it comes out

(08:33):
first. I think the Fantastic Four is more castappeal, but I really do think the success of the
Fantastic Four is somewhat based on Superman.Even good Marvel movies recently have been
tracking with low numbers, and even though bothare team-up movies and all that, I think just the
rebirth of the universe and just the greatAmerican hero, Superman is more attractive to
just the general casual fan, as well as, you know,the hardcore fans are going to show up either way.

(08:56):
You know what else is more attractive to the casualand hardcore fans, Alex? Your answer. Very well
said, my friend. I also like his point that peopleseem to be kind of soured on the MCU as of late, as
evidenced by the recent box offices of Marvelfilms of late. Like Deadpool and Wolverine, which
made over a billion dollars? No. I'm talking aboutCaptain America, Brave New World, and

(09:19):
Thunderbolts. Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, ifanybody's gonna save the MCU or the superhero
genre at the box office, I can guarantee you it'snot gonna be DC. It's gonna be Superman, of course
it is. Who else would it be? It's gonna be Marvelitself that pulls itself out of its own fire. And
it'll, if you're lucky, bring DC up with it. I feellike you're gonna learn a very hard lesson this

(09:40):
year and I'm here for it. I'm here for that growthexperience you're about to have. When have I ever
learned a hard lesson in the course of thispodcast? And how many hard lessons have you
learned, Jonathan? I mean, enough to know howwrong you are. Okay. All right. So as per usual, I
think we mentioned this on the podcast already.Jonathan and I have a bet going as to which of these

(10:01):
films actually will grow more at the Worldwide BoxOffice in their theatrical runs. Jonathan has yet
to win one of these like annual bets that we make. Sostay tuned to see if that changes later on this
year. Spoiler alert, it won't. And once again,this motherfucker's gonna owe me money. Remember
this, folks. Jokes on you, I've never paid once.That's true. I do want to point out that we went with

(10:28):
Alex for the no prize win, but everyone else whoanswered besides those who got the honorable
mention answered with Superman. So actuallySuperman did get a majority of the answers from our
listeners. You can't prove that. You can't proveanything. But great answer, Alex Albro. You win
this week's no prize. If you, the listener, want toshout out winning your own no prize, stay tuned to

(10:49):
later on this episode when we'll be asking anotherquestion of the week. And now that that's done,
onto the question of the week. For those of you whohave seen Superman in its opening weekend, what
did you think? Yeah, give us your best 30 secondreview. We'd love to play in our next episode in

(11:09):
which we're reviewing the Superman movie. Recordyour answer at dynamicduld.com by clicking on the
red microphone button in the bottom right handcorner of the screen, which will prompt you to
leave us a voicemail. Your message could be up to 30seconds long. And don't forget to leave your name
in case we include you on the podcast. We'll pickour favorite answer and award that person a
dynamic dual no prize that we'll post toInstagram. Be sure to answer before July 13th.

(11:34):
Right, because on July 13th, we'll be recordingthe next episode. But now let's go ahead and move on
to the main event of this episode where we reviewthe Marvel television original series on Disney
plus Iron Heart season one. Okay, Iron Heart sixepisode first season was produced by a Marvel

(12:15):
television created by Chinaka Hodge and starsDominique Thorne, Anthony Ramos, Alden
Ehrenreich and Sasha Baren Cohen. It wasexecutive produced by Ryan Coogler, the director
of Black Panther Wakanda Forever, where the IronHeart character made her first live action
appearance. In it, Riri Williams was an MITstudent who engineered a vibranium detecting

(12:37):
machine, which is a rare metal which had beenheavily sought after by the world's governments.
She was brought in by the Wakandans for protectionfrom Namor and the telekinesis, building a
vibranium suit of armor for the battle between thenations. At the end of that story, Shuri, the new
Black Panther, made Riri leave the armor behindand return to MIT. We knew by the time of Wakanda

(13:00):
Forever's release that an Iron Heart series wasbeing produced and I remember at the time being
less than excited because I wasn't a huge fan ofRiri as a character in that film. If you listen to
our review of Wakanda Forever, I think I remembersaying that Iron Heart felt inconsequential
despite being the catalyst for the events in thefilm and that I thought Dominique Thorne was less

(13:21):
than capable of leading Korone series as an actor.I think if I would have known then what I know now, I
would have been a little more excited for this IronHeart season because not only were most of my
earlier concerns dispelled, but there were a lotof interesting themes and characters at play here
in this season. Ultimately, I think that the IronHeart series is worth watching for fans. I'm not

(13:44):
sure general audiences will get much out of itbecause it doesn't seem like essential watching,
but if you're interested in smaller and morepersonal stories and getting some world building
from the magic side of the MCU, be sure to watch IronHeart season one prior to listening to the rest of
this review because we will be delving intospoilers here. Yeah, I think I would recommend it

(14:04):
as well, which is something that's kind ofsurprising for me because I went into the show with
the lowest of expectations. I was not reallylooking forward to watching this at all, but not
only did it surpass my expectations, maybebecause they were so low, maybe not, but also a lot
of the preconceived notions I had about the seriesin general turned out to be way wrong. Yeah, the

(14:26):
marketing was a little off for the series and I'mnot entirely sure why. It almost seems like Marvel
or Disney thought that the show would be less wellreceived than it probably is. I mean, it's doing
well among critics, maybe not by fans. It's hard togauge this early out, but yeah, I would say I
recommend it largely because of the deep themesthat I think the show successfully addresses. You

(14:49):
know, we're talking repressed trauma, sins of thefathers, selfishness versus heroism, the
validity of artificial sentience, and thecentral question at hand, which is how far will you
go to get what you want? What lines would you orwouldn't you cross and why? It's a great question
and the idea of superhero selfishness is largelyignored in Marvel and DC films and shows because

(15:13):
for the most part, comics deal with uncommonlyupstanding selfless individuals. Right,
heroism is selfless. And realistically, a lot ofpeople who would receive these superpowers would
have to decide to what degree they would use them toserve themselves and or others on the fact that
Riri makes so many of her choices in her owninterest. And even at the expense of others, it

(15:37):
definitely doesn't make her heroic. But she'salso not really a villain, even if she and others
question that in the course of the season. Andespecially when you consider the reasons behind
her reason behind her armor. Right, that's aquestion that's posited to her multiple times
like why are you doing this? And often her answer isbecause I can. Yeah, right. They asked her why the

(15:59):
suit? Why is the money to complete it so important?Why was that worth getting expelled? Why was that
worth stealing for? As you said, she responds withbecause I can and for a lesser series, maybe that
would be enough in terms of motivation and maybethat reasoning would speak to the self assurance
and hubris of the hyper intelligent. But the showgoes deeper because because is not really an

(16:23):
answer. So as we learn for Riri, it was all a traumaresponse. And she was obsessed with building her
suit out of the unprocessed grief of witnessingher best friend and dad bleed out in front of her.
From out of that, you know, she was smart. She knewthere existed a president of an armored hero who
could protect people in Iron Man. So she becamehyper focused on making an armor because she

(16:45):
didn't know how else to process her emotions. Ithought that was fantastic. I thought that was a
really well done exploration. But even beyondthat, because we all know building a suit alone
doesn't make you heroic, you know, you have to helppeople and Riri mostly just helps herself in the
show. What's fascinating is that the seriesactually addresses that in the final episode, the

(17:06):
hood calls her out saying, you thought you were oneof the good guys. What are you doing with that
armor? You're not rescuing people from burningbuildings or saving car crash victims. And I
thought that was a particularly complex momentbecause, you know, she kind of was helping others
and preemptively fighting the hood to protect herfamily and friends. But she was also fighting for

(17:27):
the artificial life that she created. And whilethe show never explicitly discusses the value of
digital sentience and whether that's reallyworth fighting for, I like how at least the topic
was addressed. Yeah, it was very timely,especially with the advent in recent years of AI
and its common use. Well, yeah, I don't know ifsomething like chat GPT could really be
considered an artificial intelligence or if it'sjust, you know, a conversation, but I don't know

(17:51):
enough about the technology to really comment onthat. But I will say that I'm not really willing to
steal or cross other ethical boundaries for thesake of my chat GPT conversations at this moment.
Well, I mean, you say that, but it's not like youhave an AI programmed to respond and look like a
loved one who has passed away. That's valid. I'dhave to think about that. Just the fact that I think

(18:13):
that may be possible now is kind of terrifying.It's interesting, for sure, for sure. And it does
make me wonder how AI chat technology will be usedin the future in that regard, missing loved ones
and stuff like that. This is all to say, Iron Heartseason one touched on some heavy shit. And that's
just like a part of the thematic bits. We'll talkmore about the themes when doubling into

(18:35):
characters like the hood. But I think the bestthing about the show is that beyond the special
effects and the plot turns and the acting, therewas this subtext of something deeper. Right,
definitely a subtext. I don't know if it's delveddeep enough in any kind of meaningful way to be
satisfying. It definitely didn't. But I didappreciate that it broached certain subjects, I

(18:57):
guess. Yeah, I agree. The themes were great, butthey don't always make a good show alone, right?
You need the other elements there for a qualitysuperhero show, including, oh, you know,
sticking the landing at the end. The worst thingabout the show probably was the ending. I thought
it was way too ambiguous as to whether or not we werelooking at a vision of the future where Riri sold

(19:19):
her soul to Mephisto, or maybe she didn't sell hersoul. I probably think that she did, but that would
also take the series down a route that I wouldn'twant it to go, because then she's probably got to
get her soul back. And then the show is going to divedeeper into the magic stuff, and Riri really
belongs in the world of science fiction, you know,the tech side of Marvel. Yeah, no, I agree. I

(19:40):
despised this ending. I couldn't believe thatthey ended this season this way, especially
because even Ryan Coogler has admitted that hedoesn't know where Riri is going to appear next,
whether they're going to have a second season ofthe show, or what. Right, the Marvel mid-credit
and end credit scenes were great back in thebeginning when we knew that for sure these

(20:01):
upcoming projects were greenlit and confirmed.When the fate of a franchise is kind of up in the air
and we don't know what's coming next, it can behighly frustrating when things are ambiguous,
because we don't know if they'll ever getresolved. We've had a number of post-credit and
mid-credit scenes from Marvel now that are leftdangling. There's so many loose plot threads that
I think I've lost track. Also, one thing I didn'tlike about the show were some of the acting. Aside

(20:26):
from, you know, the main cast, I thought thesupporting cast was a little bit cheesy,
especially with the hoodscrew, clown slug, andthe blood siblings. I thought we're not great
actors if they even were actors, and I don't thinkthey were good adaptations of their comic book
counterparts, which I guess is forgivablebecause they're obscure, but what's less
forgivable is that they were cheesy. Well, theywere borderline caricatures by the end. Right, in

(20:50):
the comics, the blood siblings are aliens.They're called the blood brothers, but here they
made them either female or non-binary. One or theother slug was, I think, trans, and then clown. I
wasn't quite sure which clown she was anadaptation of in the comic books, but they kind of
brought down the show, I think, and it's notbecause of the gender fluidity of the group. I'm

(21:13):
all for representation. I mean, Iron Heartherself is an example of representation within
Marvel comic books, where they decided to bringthis kind of like hidden figures type element with
a strong black smart woman taking on the Iron Manlegacy. But if you're going to have
representation in your show, you got to make sureit's done well, otherwise it's just going to put
people off. Well, you have to make sure it'sbelievable. You know, when it's not believable,

(21:36):
it's just pandering, and I feel like the same wayabout the blood siblings. Like, I didn't think
they could kick anyone's ass. Yeah, I don't know ifthey were actual aliens on the show, but maybe they
were, and maybe that's why they were soformidable. It wasn't addressed regardless.
Now, I would agree with you when I came to thesupporting cast of the Hood's crew, but I actually
liked the acting of Riri's supporting cast fromNatalie to Xavier, and even her mom, Ronnie, I

(22:03):
thought did a fantastic job. Oh, for sure. Yeah,they were all great. The third thing that I didn't
appreciate about the season were the number ofplot holes. There were a lot of fucking plot holes,
maybe not quite as much as Secret Invasion, but Idefinitely want to address them in the course of
this review to see if maybe we could get answers.But first, let's get into our character
breakdown. Starting with Ironheart, aka RiriWilliams, played by Dominique Thorne. Man, I was

(22:29):
so much more impressed with Dominique Thorne'sacting in this series. She legitimately blew me
away with the reality of her performance as Riri.So much so, that I was shocked that I ever even
doubted her. I felt like a piece of shit. Well, shewas given so much more to work with in this show than
she was in What Kind of Forever. I agree. I that shegave a fantastic performance in this series.

(22:52):
Absolutely. Like when she was feeling defensiveand like no one else could help her with her
problems, I was like, just leave her alone. Andwhen she had panic attacks, I was like, breathe,
girl, you're gonna pass out if you don't breathe.Like I was into her performance. It was just so
believable. I'm still not sure she entirely hasthe presence yet, but I will say that at the end of
the show, that giant afro really helped. I wish shehad that all the time because when I finally saw her

(23:17):
with the classic Riri look, I was like, holy shit,that's her. That's Riri Williams. And I feel like I
saw the character for the first time. I thought thesame thing, actually. I much preferred the afro.
That was a cool look. Yeah, it's a staple of thecharacter in the comic books. And I got to say
Dominique Thorne rocked it. Now Riri's arc wascomplex as we discussed a little bit earlier. When
you look at Natalie's origin, how thatintelligence emerged from Riri's brain while she

(23:42):
was mapping it for her AI system. That's actuallystraight from the comic books. Riri mapped her
brain for her suit system and was surprised to seeher late friend from childhood show up. In the
comic books, that's treated as more of kind of likea novel oddity than like a psychological reveal. I
like to think that the showrunner saw that momentfrom the books and decided to explore that more and

(24:05):
explore the grief behind that and maybe make it thereason behind everything. And emotional trauma
can be an acceptable means of letting yourcharacter be a little morally loose. Because like
look at the Punisher. The only reason we as comicbook readers accept his immoral behavior is
because we can see the psychological reasoningbehind it. So in hindsight, we can say, okay, Riri,
you stole and you played Robin Hood. And now we knowwhy it's fascinating. But I do think that it brings

(24:31):
up two big issues. One is that it doesn't make Ririparticularly endearing because she's a thief.
It's not a huge issue because you still root for herdespite wanting to flick her upside the head a few
times. But the second and more important thing isthat I feel like there's a plot hole in that someone
as intelligent as Riri would find a better way toearn money. Riri says at one point that she's doing

(24:52):
this stealing because she has to. But I don'tunderstand why she sees it that way. Why would her
options be so limited if she's one of the mostbrilliant engineers on the planet? Right. She was
creating all kinds of gadgets at the beginning.That's how we're introduced the character at the
beginning of this series at least. So why not sellthose? Exactly. Like she can make a fortune
selling her advanced AI or the force field watchesor something like that. I really don't believe for

(25:18):
a second that she felt that she had to resort tocrime. Maybe it was her impatience that led her to
do that. But that goes back to point one where she'snot very endearing. I don't know if she wasn't
endearing. I think sometimes she wasn'tlikeable. But I think the struggle she had, the
moral one, made her slightly endearing becauseshe was doing bad things. But she had a moral code.

(25:40):
She knew what she was doing was wrong. It neverreally identified as a thief because of that moral
code, you could say. And it made for a reallycompelling thematic arc. It was kind of like
watching to see how far she would kind of spiraldown and how she would get herself out of that.
Yeah, kind of developed into an arc of redemptionto see how she would overcome these failings of

(26:01):
guilt that she had. Which made the ending that muchmore tragic, I would say. Yes. And that much more
heartbreaking, not only because it wasn'tsatisfying, but also because it kind of broke her
arc, I would say. Yeah, she didn't really redeemherself, it seems like. And so it left her arc
incomplete and the audience without closure.Such a bizarre choice. So really. Yeah. Regarding

(26:23):
the iron heart suit, I was really hoping for a finalsuit design at the end that looked more like the
main one that she wears from the comic books, or atleast the pink, black and gold one. And readers of
the comics should know what I'm talking about. Idon't think it would have to be pink in live action.
I think you can still go red because the pink isprobably a little bit too dainty for Dominique
Thorn's version of iron heart, who's a little bitrougher than the comic book reary. But in the comic

(26:48):
books, that design is really sleek and awesome andnot bulky like in the show. Well, I liked the final
suit. It probably didn't have enough color,you're right. But I did like that they used pieces
from the barracuda that her dad built her to createit. I thought that was pretty cool. Yo, she and her
dad built it. And yeah, that was a really nicetouch, for sure. Let's go ahead and move on to the

(27:08):
hood, aka Parker Robbins, played by AnthonyRamos. Dude, Anthony Ramos almost carried this
entire season. I thought his performance wasfantastic. I first saw him in Hamilton. I really
haven't seen him in much else, but he's anincredible actor. He's really good. I've seen him
in Hamilton and Twisters and in the Heights. Thedude can kind of do it all. And while I thought that

(27:29):
initially he was going to be pretty shallow andthis was just like a petty revenge kind of arc, when
we learned that this was all because his dadabandoned him, that blew me away. The character
was really cool once I learned that. Yeah, hiswhole arc is that he was trying to get back what he
felt was kept from him when he was kicked out of hishouse at the age of 12 by his rich father. That

(27:51):
reveal was fantastic. And when you can understandthe motivations of a villain like the hood, it
makes things so much more interesting becausesuddenly you're kind of rooting for the villain.
Right, the villain becomes sympathetic. Thecharacter was so good that I'm convinced that's
why they had the mid-credit scene that they did,where instead of being defeated, it looks like
they were wanting to continue the hood story arc.Does he become a whole sympathy angle? Otherwise,

(28:21):
you're going to have an Ezekiel stain typesituation, which we'll get into a little bit
later. But first, I want to address the plot hole ofwhy didn't the hood just go straight to his father?
Like, why did he decide to go this all-round aboutway and hire a crew and introduce a ton of
liabilities and variables to the situation? Hecould have just literally gone to his father and
threatened him to get his estate. Well, he wantedmore than the estate. He wanted... It was

(29:15):
interesting because the hood only went afterorganizations that were affecting poor Chicago
communities. So he had somewhat of an ethicalgrounding. But then, you know, he's out there
having his cousin kill the Rampage guy and tie uploose ends. So I don't know if the hood was maybe a
corrupting influence on him because it alsoseemed in the flashback scenes that he wasn't a

(29:37):
100% evil guy. Well, I kind of took his wholeethical approach to the companies they targeted,
not as genuine I took that as a way to manipulate hiscrew to get them on board. Yeah, I think that's
totally valid for sure. Great character, greatcharacter in that regard. Yeah. What did you think
of the actual hood? I thought it looked cool. Youknow, it looked like straight out of the comic

(29:58):
books. It looked old, but kind of stylish. Ithought it was going to look cooler. Not going to
lie. Really? Like what? I don't know. I think Iexpected something that maybe fit a little bit
better. It was a little bit more flowy andsupernatural looking. It was a little heavy. Like
it was made out of leather or something. Maybe if itwas made out of like a lighter fabric, it would have
flowed more, but I didn't mind it at all. I did likethe scarring that was going on with him and like how

(30:23):
they were trying to cover it up with tattoos and howthe tattoos got more elaborate as each episode
progressed. I thought that was really cool. And Ialso liked the nod to characters like Cassilius,
how they were tainted and physically affectedwhen they kind of made deals with these dark
entities. Yeah, that is interesting. I guess Ididn't think about the tie into Cassilius, but

(30:43):
yeah, his body was getting all fucked up too in hisdealings with Dormammu. What's interesting is
that in the comic books, Parker Robbins got thehood by killing a demon that was wearing it who had
ties to Dormammu. So his hood did get his power fromthe dark dimension and they kind of had an Easter
egg reference to that in the show because Zelmathought that the hood came from Dormammu. Though

(31:04):
later it was revealed to be Mephisto behindeverything. Let's go ahead and move on to Ezekiel
Stain, played by Alden Ehrenreich. Now I likeAlden as an actor. I think I've only seen him in
solo. I wasn't sure what to think of the characterfrom the marketing because Joe McGillicuddy was
an alias. But once he was revealed as EzekielStain, I was like, yes, like this guy definitely

(31:25):
deserves to be a villain within the Iron Manfranchise. And I was kind of disappointed that
they transformed the character into a moresympathetic henchman type role. It was really
hard to get a beat on the character because on onehand, you know, he was a tech ethicist and he didn't
have like malicious intentions, really. But alsohe was a black market dealer and seemed to have this

(31:46):
kind of dark streak to him. The show kind of seemedto want it both ways with this character. And that
was kind of unsatisfying. I did think it was coolthat they made him the son of Obadiah Stain. Is that
a real character from the comics? Yes. Yeah, ZekeStain is Obadiah Stain's son. He was a second Iron
Monger and he is interesting because he takes amore biotech route with his superpowers just like

(32:10):
in the show. OK. And he developed a way for the bodyto use like 90 percent less energy and the energy
gets transmitted into these energy enhancementsthat he has on his body. Very similar to how he was in
the show. Does he have a different look in thecomic? Because I kind of feel like they missed an
opportunity to make him more monsterish, almostlike Frankenstein's monster. Well, he's more of

(32:32):
like a cyborg and he can like manifest it to lookmore like a suit of armor, but he's always part
machine, part human. And that's kind of his wholeshtick as an Iron Man villain. It's less about
creating a suit of armor and more about merging manand machine to become a true Iron Man. Yeah, I think
they missed an opportunity to make the charactermore tragic. He ended up being kind of lame in the

(32:54):
way that he was just kind of a puppet. I didn't likethat. Well, he lost the fight by getting kicked in
the balls, right? Yeah, I was weird. I love that.Didn't love that for him, especially since he's a
lot more formidable in the books. And I guessduring that first fight, he was quite the force of
nature, but the second fight was justdisappointing and embarrassing. I'll say,
though, that it is nice that Marvel is revisitingsome of its earlier plots in projects like this one

(33:20):
and like Captain America Brave New World. Oh,yeah, totally. I definitely got excited when they
found a way to squeeze an element of the Iron Manmovies into the show for sure. Let's go to move into
our final character. We're going to discuss andthat is Mephisto played by Sasha Baron Cohen. Now,
he only had a small part in the show. He was only inthe final episode, but you know, Sasha Baron Cohen
is a pretty big actor who's led some of his ownfilms. And I thought his approach to the role of

(33:44):
Mephisto was pretty interesting. I don't know ifyou noticed, but in Mephisto's conversation with
Riri in the reflection of his spoon, you can see theactual demonic looking character. Oh, I did not
catch that. Really? Oh, dude, you got to go back andlook at that because it's scary as hell. Like, I
don't know if you've seen the film in Sidious or ifyou know of that classic shot where the demon guy is

(34:05):
poking out behind Patrick Wilson's head. But itfelt kind of like that. Like he has these glowing
eyes and he's all red. It's really fucking creepy.And I was really pleased with that look. Oh, I just
googled it. Yeah, no, I didn't need to see that. Iwas hoping that they would give a full on reveal of
the Mephisto character. But in hindsight, I kindof like this a little bit more where he's almost

(34:26):
like too evil to actually look at outside of thedemonic appearance. You know, the overall
approach that they seem to take with the characterwas this very Faustian type angle where, you know,
he is a smooth talking deceiver. Right. He'llgrant any wish you have in exchange for your soul,
essentially. Yeah, very charismatic. I could seewhy they went with Sushabar and Cohen for this

(34:48):
particular role because he has the range in that hecan be conniving but also charming and
convincing. And he did this weird thing withaccents that really made you feel like he was a
being of the world and had been doing this for awhile. I'm just glad he didn't break into his
Kazakhstan accent. And my name is Mephisto. I likesex. It's nice. I was trying to figure out why they

(35:13):
even incorporated someone like Mephisto into anIron Heart series. But it does make sense in terms
of the theme of how far will you go for the things youwant? What bigger price is there than, you know,
your own soul dealing with a character like thedevil himself? So then it kind of clicked for me why
he was here. Well, I also think it's appropriatethat he's in a show that deals with the morality of

(35:35):
good and evil. When Riri is trying to choose thepath between good and bad to have the ultimate
adversary be the embodiment of bad, of evil, Ithought that was an interesting approach. And
what's also interesting is that it seemed like shedid sell her soul. I don't like. Titan's Smash

(36:22):
every Tuesday, Max destruction, where TV andaction heroes battle every Wednesday and Sendra
world, where anime champions clash everyThursday. Join us as we speculate on the matches
and armed with the power of mathematicalsimulations, discover who will emerge
victorious. Visit dynamicpodcast.com where wesettle the debate and settle the score. Let's go

(36:49):
ahead and move on into the episode highlights. Thefirst episode was called Take Me Home. In it, Riri
Williams requests for MIT to extend her grant torebuild the Iron Heart armor is denied and she's
expelled from the school after getting caughtcompleting assignments for other students in
exchange for money for her work. Riri takes off inher new suit of armor to her hometown of Chicago,

(37:10):
but she is locked out of the suit en route. Aftercrashing and gathering the pieces, she returns
home, where it's revealed that she, her mother,Ronnie and her friend, Xavier, are still grieving
the deaths of Riri's late friend, Natalie andstepfather, Gary, who were both killed in a drive
by shooting. She's approached by John, the cousinof Parker Robbins, aka the Hood, to join their

(37:31):
crew. After passing a booby trapped audition,Riri is hesitant to join, but the hood convinces
her with financial compensation and the promisethat their theft will serve the community. Back
home, Ronnie suspects something is wrong andprobes Riri, suspecting she has unprocessed
grief. After falling asleep while mapping herbrain to create a new AI for her armor, Riri awakens

(37:52):
to see that the intelligence is a recreation ofNatalie. Now, one of the signs of a good character
is that they have what's known in literary terms asa ghost, because it's something that haunts them
from the past, whether it's shame or guilt or loss.I find it really fascinating that they gave Riri a
literal ghost in Natalie. I thought that wasreally smart because she absolutely is haunted by

(38:19):
Natalie. So for her to pop up accidentally was agreat source of conflict throughout the whole
season. They did it really well. Absolutely. Andthey could have based the entire season off of that
conflict alone. And maybe they should have spentmore time on it. But yeah, it was so well done,
especially progressing through the episodeswhere it culminated with Natalie believing she's

(38:39):
real and trying to meet her brother, Xavier, himrejecting her and then ultimately her dying,
essentially, and Riri coming to terms with howmuch that AI meant to her, despite being
standoffish with it at the beginning.Fascinating stuff. It was hands down the best part
of this series by far, I think. I was reallysurprised to see Eric Andre show up in the Marvel

(39:01):
Cinematic Universe. He played a character calledStuart Clark, also known as Rampage in the comic
books. I thought it was funny how he kept trying toget people to call him Rampage in the show. But
Rampage was the successor, basically, to Microand he assisted the Punisher in the comics. And I
think it would be fucking awesome if it turns outthat Stuart didn't actually die. And then he ends

(39:22):
up teaming up with John Berndthal's Punishercharacter. All right, he would be a great foil for
that character. Yeah, he's such a great comedian.Now, is John a character in the comics? Yeah, the
cousin John. His name is John King. He's the hood'scousin as he is in this show. And he's part of his
gang. He helps him out. At one point, he getsrecruited into another gang called the Zodiac.

(39:44):
And I think that was the only time he hadsuperpowers. But yeah, otherwise, he basically
serves the same function that he did in the show inthe comic books. Cool, let's get to know. Episode
two was called, Will the real Natalie please standup? While trying to come to terms with the Natalie
she created, Riri meets with the hood's crew todiscuss extorting the CEO of a new underground
private highway system called Tunnel. Needingmore parts to complete her armor before the job,

(40:08):
Natalie helps Riri track down a black market armsdealer named Joe McGillicuddy in the Chicago
suburbs. He takes her to his arms bunker and Ririfinishes her armor before the heist. The crew's
hacker, Slug, gives Riri a computer virus on aflash drive, though she's startled by Natalie and
loses it. Improvising, Riri helps the crew stillpull off the job with hood teleporting into the

(40:30):
CEO's car and extorting her. Escaping theunderground tunnels, Ironheart is confronted by
a guard at gunpoint and Natalie freezes. The hoodsaves her with magic bullets, covering Riri's
escape back home. At the hideout, John tattoosover the hood's magic scars, which grow worse the
more he uses his cloak. Now could the hoodteleport? I didn't think he could. I thought he

(40:52):
could just turn invisible. Is it like Frodo? Yeah,he could teleport, he could turn invisible, he can
imbue weapons with Hellfire. He's a pretty coolcharacter and we're definitely going to use him in
a duel in the near future. But his power set doesspeak to another plot hole that I have in that, you
know, forget the fact that he probably could havegone straight to his father. Why couldn't he just
go straight to the CEOs? Why did he need all theseelaborate plans when he can literally sneak by

(41:18):
anything and just show up like in their home orsomething? Yeah, just make him sign the contracts
at gunpoint. So much easier. Exactly. That is aplot hole, right? Yes. Yep, I would say. Now in your
character breakdown, you didn't mention theactress who played Natalie. I thought she did a
fantastic job though. I thought from the trailersand everything that she was going to be super

(41:38):
cringe, but she wasn't. She was fantastic.Absolutely. Yeah, she's played by Lyric Ross, who
I haven't seen in anything else before. But Ithought she brought a lot of heart to the character
of Natalie, even as an AI for sure. It was kind ofweird to see Natalie on a computer screen trying to
figure out how to escape into the rest of the housebecause she's kind of talking to herself on a

(42:00):
screen. But beyond that, yeah, there was a lot ofhumanity in her performance. Episode three was
called We Endanger Girl. After celebrating theirsuccess, tensions rise in the crew when
demolition expert Clown touches Parker's cloakand John Reprimands them. The hood announces
their next target, a biotech company named AirLoom. Jo visits RiRi at her home, blackmailing her

(42:22):
for engineering help with his biotech designs.Learning from the police that former crew member
Rampage was killed, RiRi suspects the hood andJohn of tying up loose ends. She decides to get a
sample of the hood to study it and learn more aboutwhat kind of threat he poses. RiRi visits Jo and
learns that he is Ezekiel Stain, the son of ObadiahStain, the Iron Monger, but that he abhors his

(42:44):
father. She borrows a sample of his biomass skindesign in order to get her laser cutter through Air
Loom's metal detectors, which she can use to get apiece of the hood's cloak. However, during the
heist, RiRi's laser is detected by securitysensors and triggers a CO2 defense system. RiRi
tries to help rescue the crew, but is discovered byJohn out of her armor and with a piece of the hood's

(43:06):
cloak. He tries to kill her, but RiRi escapes withher armor's help, losing the biomass skin sample
in the process and leaving John to suffocate. Thecrew flees and the hood is distraught over the loss
of his cousin. He sees in a vision that RiRi wasresponsible for his death and RiRi has a panic
attack over the disastrous turn of events. Thiswas a good episode. I think this was my favorite

(43:27):
episode. Just because of all the tension of RiRiworking for the guy who she thinks maybe trying to
kill her and figuring out how she was going to get tohim first. I thought it was a cool episode. It was
pretty good. There is another plot hole herethough, in that a laser can cut off a piece of the
hood. You would think it would be heat resistant.You would think, but also by the end of the show,

(43:51):
RiRi ends up incorporating magic into her suit ofarmor and that ends up deleting Natalie, which
leads to the deal with Mephisto. You know whatwould circumvent all of that? A shit ton of lasers?
A fucking shit ton of lasers. Like the ones thatIron Man used in Iron Man 2, where he was fighting
alongside War Machine and he told him to duck andthen he spun around and killed all of those hammer

(44:13):
droids. Just fucking put some of those on the IronHeart armor. You'll be able to cut through
anything, including that fucking cloak and justdestroy it. Okay, take it back. This is not a good
episode. This whole show sucks now. I understandwhy scientifically she wanted a piece of the
cloak, but I really think they kind of shotthemselves in the foot with the reveal that it

(44:35):
could be cut with a laser beam. Especially whenyou're dealing with a character like Iron Heart
who can shoot fucking lasers. Major plot hole.What the heck? Yeah, yeah. But yeah, other than
that, great episode. Episode 4 was called BadMagic. In a flashback, we see Parker and John
attempt to rob a mansion, but are discovered bysecurity. In the present, RiRi meets with the crew

(44:56):
and suspects that the hood knows she was involvedwith John's death. She returns home and analyzes
the hood piece she recovered, which she learns ismagic. She goes to visit Ezekiel and discovers
that he's been arrested for the discovery of hisbiomech tech found at the heirloom crime scene.
She visits the prison to apologize, and Parkerdeduces the connection between RiRi and Ezekiel

(45:17):
via news of the arrest. Afraid for the safety of herfamily and friends, RiRi fashions them force
field-emitting watches. Her mother, Ronnie,offers to help whatever situation she's in and
accompanies RiRi to Stanton's, a book and candyshop, to learn what might destroy the hood's
cloak. Madeline Stanton, a former comertasetrainee and her daughter, Zelma, learned that the

(45:39):
hood is working with an ancient evil until RiRithat it cannot be destroyed. The hood sneaks into
Ezekiel's cell to form an alliance against RiRiand helps him escape prison. Natalie tries to help
RiRi by bringing her friend Xavier to her, but he'supset that the AI isn't as late sister's likeness.
The crew uses Ezekiel's biotech designs to outfithim with cybernetic enhancements, secretly

(46:01):
putting the hood in charge of the programming.Parker informs the crew that their next job is to
kill RiRi for being responsible for John's death.A lot of plot holes in this episode. Let me break
them down and see if we can get answers. First ofall, why didn't the hood just go after RiRi's
family right away if he suspected her of beingresponsible for John's death? He said earlier

(46:22):
that he had plans for her, but you also can bendbullets, bro. Yeah, just shoot her at that point,
right? Why not? Why all the complicated schemes?The hood is not a very efficient villain, I'll say,
in this season. Next plot hole is if RiRi suspectedthe hood and John of being responsible for
Stewart's death, which she later brought up withClown during their fight in the next episode, why

(46:46):
didn't she bring that up with the crew earlier?That Stewart was dead, because the crew would have
questioned it at that point. I know, there'ssomething to be said for a dramatic timing though,
and maybe she really didn't fully trust the crew.That's fair, that's fair. Maybe that one's not a
plot hole. But how did authorities track thebiomass skin to Ezekiel Stain, considering that a

(47:07):
lot of his stuff was black market and off the books?That's exactly what I was wondering. Now, to be
fair, he did mention to her that this black marketstuff could be traced back to him, but it was not
clear how. And if it could, I was like, bro, what isthe whole point of the black market then? I thought
this stuff was supposed to be untraceable. Right.Those are all the plot holes I have for that

(47:28):
episode. Other than them, I did enjoy episode 4. Ireally liked the scene where RiRi tried a bunch of
different scientific means to destroy the cloak.I don't know, I thought some of them were kind of
basic. Like she tried a small bomb, she tried acid.I guess she could have tried more lasers. Right, so
it's like a laser can cut it, but the heat couldn't,the bomb couldn't? You just ruined the whole show

(47:50):
for me. Sorry. Episode 5 is called Karma's AGlitch. In it, Natalie and the Iron Heart suit are
captured by the crew while RiRi meets with Zelma ata White Castle. Zelma explains her belief that the
hood belongs to Dormammu before the crew ambushand attack RiRi. She traps the blood siblings with
a force field watch, knocks Clown out with her ownexplosive, and manages to get her armor back

(48:12):
before being run down by Slug. However, Zeke showsup and uses his biotech energy and physiology to
shut down and destroy RiRi's armor. However,instead of killing her, he spares her life and
tells her to leave the city. She runs home and tellsRonnie to pack her bags to leave, confessing
everything. RiRi admits her obsession withbuilding the suit was based on her trauma from
Natalie and Gary's death, and her mom takes her tothe garage where the drive-by occurred and

(48:36):
reminds her of the good memories also had there.Inspired to build a new suit and fight back, RiRi
recruits her friends to transform the PlymouthBarracuda her and her dad restored into an
upgraded armor. Convinced magic is the only meansof stopping the hood. She has Zelma perform a
ritual to imbue it with magic energy. Meanwhile,Parker, believing RiRi is dead, controls Zeke's

(48:58):
body and uses him to invade the mansion from theflashback, reveals to be his estranged father's
house. Revealing that he was kicked out at age 12and now has controlling stakes in his dad's
businesses, he forces him to sign over his estate.Zelma's Iron Heart Armor. Now this was a great
episode, but there is one small plot hole, and thatis why didn't the hood accompany the crew at White

(49:23):
Castle? Like the hood was there for all the otherjobs that the crew was doing, and I don't know what
he was doing at the time they were trying to killRiRi, but if he had joined them, he would have been
there to either finish the job or at least see thatEzekiel Stain was lying to him. Yeah, you kind of
put too much faith in Zeke, I guess, which made nosense because he was new to the crew and he hadn't

(49:44):
earned that trust yet. Well, I was still trying tofigure out how Zeke was able to defeat RiRi so
easily. Was his electricity draining herbattery? Is that what it was? It seemed like it kind
of short circuited her systems or something likethat. Okay, that makes a little bit more sense, but
you're right about the hood not being there. Hedefinitely should have been to contribute. And

(50:04):
confirm the kill. I did think it was a little weakthat Zeke just told her to run away. It felt kind of
like a convenient cop out. Despite the fact thatthe show went out of the way to establish him as more
of a morally gray person, but that in itself is alsoa cop out considering he is a villain in the comic
books. It was all just too convenient.Absolutely. I hear that all the time where it's
like, oh, superhero movies are done. Why doesn'tthe villain just kill the hero when he has the

(50:28):
chance? This is the perfect example of that. Yeah,for sure. I will say I did love the White Castle
fight showing how resourceful RiRi is outside ofthe armor. It kind of reminded me of Iron Man 3,
where we saw Tony Stark take out all the henchmen atwhat he thought was the Mandarin's mansion. And
you know, he went to Home Depot and got allcreative. Here, RiRi had to get creative inside a

(50:51):
burger joint and really prove her metal. I don'tknow why Zelma didn't help her. Yeah, I guess she
could have used her magic to help fight back,right? She seems like a pretty powerful
sorceress. I mean, she's not that powerful. She'sstill learning in the books she is Dr. Strange's
librarian. Oh, interesting. But I mean, she couldtransform candy into other candy. Right,

(51:12):
exactly. So she could like transform one ofClown's bombs into candy. Into candy. Yeah. The
sixth and final episode is called The Past is thePast. In a flashback, Parker and John split up
after being discovered by security. Cornered,Parker is approached by Mephisto who helps him
magically escape. He assures Parker that he canhelp him achieve his desire for power, respect and

(51:34):
wealth by giving him the cloak in exchange for hissoul. And Parker accepts the deal. In the present,
the hood argues with Zeke about the emptiness ofhis ambitions. RiRi tries to recreate Natalie but
can't and vows to defeat the hood and use its magicto bring her back. Parker accuses Mephisto of not
fulfilling his end of the bargain, but Mephistothreatens to replace him with someone more

(51:55):
capable. Ironheart and Zeke fight in a rematch,and he allows her to knock him out to reset Parker's
programming override. She confronts the hood andthe two fight with the hood transforming into a
demonic figure. RiRi detonates a magic energyblast that seemingly destroys her armor, but it's
revealed to be a holographic illusion and sheremoves the hood's cloak and he's left in pain

(52:16):
without it. Leaving the hideout RiRi isconfronted by Mephisto who also assures her he can
help her achieve her desires. In a vision of thefuture, or perhaps, reality, RiRi hacks the
suit's magic to recreate Natalie, or as it turnsout, resurrect the real Natalie. Dark magic scars
form on her skin. In a mid-credits scene, Parkerasks Selma for help. Now the ending aside, I really

(52:41):
liked the final battle between Ironheart and thehood. I thought it had a great tit for tat momentum
in that she was able to negate his invisibility andteleporting magic, but he transformed into a
demon who was ripping her armor apart. But then sheset off a magic blast that hurt him but also left her
vulnerable. There was a lot of back and forth thatfelt very satisfying in terms of who's going to

(53:06):
win. The hood was definitely a good villain. I didfind it odd that Mephisto or Mephisto,
apparently, is pronounced Mephisto. He wasagreed to every single aspect of our bargain. I'm
like, no you didn't. You promised he would be aking. What are you talking about? Well, he did

(53:26):
achieve that. He was sitting at his father'stable. I don't know. When Mephisto said that, I was
just like, whatever bro, no you didn't. The devilis a liar. Yeah, he definitely didn't tell him
about the whole magic scarring thing. I think if hewould have admitted that, maybe he wouldn't have
gone through with the deal. Although Riri knewabout the magic scarring and she still went
through with the deal too. So weird. Such a weirdchoice. Do you want there to be a season two of this?

(53:52):
You know, I really like the character of RiriWilliams, especially what they did with her in
this season. I would like there to be a season two,but I don't want it to continue the story of where
they left it off here. I think Riri belongssquarely again in the tech side of Marvel, not the
magic side. And I would like to see the hood return,but maybe as a villain against someone like Moon

(54:14):
Knight or Blade or Ghost Rider or something likethat. That'd be cool. I keep hearing rumors that
Mephisto is going to kind of take over for Kang asthe primary antagonist for this upcoming
multiverse saga. How would you feel about that? Icould totally see that working, for sure. That'd
be awesome. Mephisto is a big enough character tohold his own against an entire Avengers lineup. If

(54:37):
they do that, I kind of wish they would haveintroduced him in a different project than this
show. Well, if they do do that, maybe it'll get morepeople to watch this season in the future.
Overall, there was a lot to like about the show, alittle bit to dislike, a lot to question. It's kind
of a mixed bag. I think the strong elements withinit really do a lot to make up for its shortcomings.

(55:00):
The season definitely carries a subtext of deeperemotional meaning and thematic importance
despite the weak supporting cast, the plot holes,and the ambiguous ending. All things considered,
I'm rating Iron Heart season 1 3.5 stars out of 5. Afresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I would agree
with you that it's a mixed bag. The leadperformances were great. The special effects

(55:24):
were great. The themes were great. That said, I dothink the writers dropped the ball in several
instances, including the ending, including theplot holes. I do think ultimately the good
outweighs the bad, which is why I would stillrecommend it. So I would agree with your 3.5 star
rating, especially if Mofisto is going to be amajor player in the MCU going forward. And

(55:47):
especially if they're able to clear up the endingwith a subsequent season or some other project. I
think that would actually make this season betterif they cleaned everything up in a satisfying
manner. Still probably not to elevate the showbeyond a 3.5 star rating though. But that does it
for this review. H.J .9K, help close us out. Nextepisode is not as good as this episode, because

(56:40):
it's going to be a review of the Superman movie,which is almost certainly going to be 3 stars or
under. H.J .9K, 5 stars. It's going to be a 5 starstart to the new DCU. Just you wait. But that does it
for this episode. We want to give a big thanks to ourexecutive producers, John Staroski, Zachary
Hepburn, Dustin Belcom, Mickey Mathen-Geehan,Nathaniel Wagner, Levi Yatn, Austin Wisalowski,

(57:03):
AJ Dunkerly, Nick Obanto, Scott Camacho, GilCamacho, Adam Spees, Dean Molesky, Devin Davis,
Joseph Kirsting, Josh Leiner, Mike Williams,Oscar Galvez, and Paul Graves for helping make
this podcast possible. And we'll talk to you guysnext week. Up up and away, true believers. For the
Gen Z fam, Iron Heart was low-key mid but didn'ttake crazy L's in its flop era and is giving

(57:25):
scabiddy toilet-riss vibes on God. Period.