Superman (2025)

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Superman, the most powerful being on planet Earth.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
We finally meet.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Now as planned, I'll destroy you and of course that
reporter you always do interviews with.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Who raised you as a child.

Speaker 4 (00:35):
Don't kill them too.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
No matter what you do to me, Luther, your plans
will work.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
Wrap it up.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Good luck with that.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
It can be blue. They chose him.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Let them die.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
Hi, quit messing around.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
I'm not messing around doing important stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Hey, buddy, Hi's up here.

Speaker 4 (01:27):
Shum O people, and welcome to our three hundredth, yes,
three hundredth episode of Hackness and Darkness, the Supero Movie Podcast,
where we discuss Superhio movies, the Marble DC, dark Horse
image and more. Naturally, there will be spoilers, folks, so
you have been warned, especially for this movie. I am
one of your co hosts. Did you neck? And as
always joining me as my superhero partner in crime mister

(01:49):
Keith for this. Hey Keith, how are you today? Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:52):
Not too bad? First I have to say, Greg Warab,
you're only five bucks. I told you I was gonna
make it to three hundred. You didn't believe me. Otherwise
I'm doing pretty well. It's about ten thousand degrees here
on the East coast down in North Carolina. I think
it's two degrees colder than the sun. It's been a
pretty dry couple of days opposed to like New York,
New Jersey, but I can't complain otherwise.

Speaker 4 (02:14):
Well, I'm that you're keeping somewhat cooler than them recently,
Keith and today. Of course, it wouldn't be an episode
three hundred without a special guest who joined me way
back when on episode one to discuss Superman in the
movie from way back When, and that is mister Chows Skags,
Hey Chows, how are you? And welcome back?

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Thank you very much. Nick. I always love to be
here on Happiness in Darkness with you and Keith. It's
a lot of fun, and it's so nice to actually
get to bring this full circle a little bit, you know,
three hundred episodes, So I want to wish you both
have Happy three hundred. I know how much of a
milestone that is having done that, almost done a couple

(02:54):
of podcasts of mine, so I definitely, you know, want
to give you all the love and well wishes going forward,
and uh, you're going to be able to return the
favor on one of my podcasts, which we can talk
about later, of course.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
We most certainly will, and thank you, yes very much
for the well wishes there, Charles. It blows my mind
that we're on episode three hundred here, and yes, today's
a very special one because we are discussing Superman from
twenty twenty five. This was directed and written by James Gunn,
while the score was by John Murphy and David Fleming.
And this movie put in today's money as it did

(03:29):
come out this year, costs two hundred and twenty five
million to make, and so far, as of this recording
has made two hundred and seventeen million at the box
office and rising. So were Charles, as you are guests today,
what were your general thoughts and impressions on this new
Superman movie.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Well, as I talked about in our the very first
episode of this podcast, I am a huge Superman fan.
I have been for so a long time, ever since
I started collecting comics back in the seventies, and I
still can collect Superman comics to this day. I would
kill to write Superman for DC Comics. It's one of
the characters I haven't technically written for DC comics yet,

(04:12):
but I certainly hope so and so going to this film,
I was very I want to say, I don't want
to say just you know, hyped for it, but I
would I would say that I was very you know, excited,
or at least I want to say that I was

(04:32):
looking forward to this film after what had gone down
with Zack Snyder's films, especially Man of Steel, that I
was definitely looking forward to a lighter Superman once again.
I think the world needs that right now, and this
movie certainly delivered that. And I like the fact that
James gunn was is one of the few directors, especially

(04:55):
for DC, that seems to be unafraid of embracing comics
history and actually just dives deep and doesn't run from
it like other directors. Do you know that you know,
he's not afraid of you know, colorful costumes, you know,
just off the wall, bonkers, you know, crazy sci fi

(05:17):
concepts that that only appear in comics. He embraces all that,
you know, things of like you know, bringing in Crypto,
which I'm sure we'll talk about that. It's it's something,
this is a Superman that we haven't seen yet on screen,
and after you know, the the Henry Cavill Superman take
with under Zack Snyder, under Christopher Reeve, under Richard Donner,

(05:42):
and even going all the way back to George Reeves
and Superman and the Molement. This is like a you know,
this is this is something that it's a different take,
and it's not going to appeal to everybody, but it's
a take that I think this franchise in as James
Gunn is trying to launched the new DC Universe, to

(06:03):
basically resurrect the DC Extended Universe from the ashes and
give it a nice fresh coat of paint going forward,
this is something that I think that had to happen.
It's a foundation it's a foundational movie. I see it
that way, and it's something that you know, maybe kind
of you know, basic in his presentation, but it's something

(06:25):
that where I think a lot of the DC universe
has got to launch from. And so that's why you
see characters being introduced that normally wouldn't be the focus
in a Superman film. And I thought the overall execution
was fine and I can't wait to discuss this with
you and Keef. So I'm just gonna shut up now
and hand it over to you guys.

Speaker 4 (06:45):
Well, that's great and I'm very happy to hear your enthusiasm.
When it comes to this official first chapter, I guess
of the DC universe. I mean want if you don't
count Creach Commandos, which kind of kicked it off, which
you and I did talk about Chives and Keith. When
it comes to you, I remember, you know when we
discussed going into this movie, you weren't you should say,
expect your expectations pretty low. So what did you make

(07:06):
of it when you finally got to see it.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
I'm glad I set my expectations accordingly. On opposed to Charles,
I was not impressed with this movie. It was very
mid at best. I explained this to one person who
had not seen it yet as Guardians of the Galaxy
goes searching for Superman, because this was a Superman adjacent
movie that had a lot of other stuff going on

(07:30):
in the universe. The actors, for the most part, I
enjoyed many of them. I'm more to Prefern cavill as
the Superman opposed to the one that we got. I
just I didn't believe him as Superman. I don't know
if it was just me or just how Gunn was
portraying Superman in this movie. I didn't like him. I know,

(07:50):
I am of the minority, but it just I'm hoping
he grows on me with later iterations. The fact that
Cavill Superman got some much flak for being this Brudi guy,
and then we get this Superman who is having a
meltdown with his girlfriend over an invasion, and then you're like, okay,

(08:11):
can we pick a lane. Guys, you hated the Brudi guy,
but then we have another broody guy with cheesy dialogue,
but that's okay. The lighthearted tone with Crypto, which was
one of the weird saving characters of this movie, I
enjoyed surprising more than I was expecting. The CGI of
Crypto was cringey at best. There are other characters I

(08:35):
appreciated more. Some of the sporting characters I wish I
had seen more of, and then other ones we could
have just kind of written off, like Green Lantern. He
was just there to be a butt head, different body.
So I'm kind of like the fifty to fifty. It
met my expectations, even though they were pretty low.

Speaker 4 (08:51):
Well, I am, I'm sorry that you kind of you know,
you went impressed with this. Hopefully, as the DC universe continues,
you know you will be happier with the movies. I
will say this clearly, there's still so much interest in
Superman because when I went to see this, obviously me
being in Italy, there's a theater that I go to
which shows films in the original language with Italian subtitles

(09:13):
and for folks who want to see it in the
original language. And usually more often than not, my theater
is half empty because they're not that many people who
want to go and see the film in English or
in whatever the language might be. Here, it was packed,
and this wasn't necessarily opening weekend, It was just a
couple of days after, and I was amazed at seeing
so many people something like, clearly people still love this

(09:34):
character so much thin kind of the extent of the
way Charles loves this character as much. I'm a huge
Superman fan myself. I was very pleased with this first iteration.
It is very gun, which you can either love or hate.
I know that, you know he's a rather polarizing director
when it comes back, because some of the of his
movies are so beloved. Other people don't like the way
he writes films. I could definitely see his style in this,

(09:57):
But I really enjoyed what I saw, and I was
so glad we didn't get the nth store, the nth
Superman movie starting with his origin story, which is something
I'd actually talked about with Keith off Air, is that
we don't need that, and I'm glad we didn't have that. Rather,
we focused on other elements, which because everybody by at
this point, even my mother, who's never read a comic book,

(10:18):
knows where Superman came from and who he is, So
I'm so glad we went past that. The story itself,
I thought was very intense. I appreciate the comedic moments.
I think was well balanced between comedy and more serious stories.
Attackles quite a few things that hit rather close to home,
especially when it comes to global conflicts and how it
even poses the question of what if we had superheroes

(10:39):
and they intervened in a in a particular conflict. And
I'm sure that this will come up in our discussions
as we talk about the characters. I was, as I said,
I was thoroughly pleased with It's a great way to
start off the cinematic side of the EC universe.

Speaker 3 (10:52):
I was.

Speaker 4 (10:53):
I was not I was surprised with certain characters that
we got because I had not watched some of the trailers,
and as people know, I stay clear of anything, so
I want to work go into a movie as cold
as I can be, So I really appreciate not being
sport too much. And it was when certain characters hopped
hopped in I was like, Wow, there's this guy and
there's this guy and I and I thought it was awesome.
So by and large, I was very pleased with this.

(11:14):
There were a few things which I was a little
bit thrown thrown by, which I'm sure we'll talk about
as during the course of this review. But by and large,
I think this film did stick the landing when it
came to It's the debut of trying to reboot the
DC universe, as Charles was alluding to. So getting to
the characters on the board, let's kick off with initially

(11:35):
Team Superman. We have David corn Sweat of course debuting
as Superman, Clark Kent, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and
if you guys want the course, we can throw in
Crypto as well. So Keith, starting with you, what did
you make of Superman? Lowis Lane and crypto.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
I found it the dynamic between them very interesting. They
came off as being a couple that had been together
for for a long time, so you had to kind
of keep reminding yourself that it had only been I
think she said it was like three months when they're
in her house and he was cooking and giving his interview.
So it's funny just the banter between the two of them.

(12:14):
I appreciated that the chemistry with these two actors was
spot on. I believe them to be in a relationship.
It's just some of the dialogue was a little janky
with it, especially when he's giving his reasons why he
tried to stop this war and what he did. It
just it kind of flies in the face of logic.

(12:35):
He's been on this planet for his entire life, so
he knows how diplomacy works, and he didn't go to
the President of the United States or the UN. He
just flew off part of the expression half cocked and
tried to stop war. His intentions were well meant, but
as Lois points out to him, there was just a
lot of flaws in his logic. And I had the

(12:57):
same kind of thoughts as she did with them talking.
I appreciated the the rallying as it were, when she
came and kind of consoled him at different points in
the movie. Crypto was kind of interesting because he just
popped up randomly, and when I saw him in the commercial,
I'm like, I thought this was going to be stupid

(13:17):
and it kind of out of context. It doesn't make
a lot of sense. But to see Crypto through the movie,
You're like, oh, Okay, he's just a typical dog who
happens to have a cape and superpowers. In terms of
some I appreciate the fact that they didn't make her
the damsel in distress. They she was there to, you know,
piece things together, and I appreciate they gave her some

(13:39):
stuff to do while Superman was doing Superman stuff. It
wasn't like, oh, Lois is, you know, trapped in an
elevator on the Eiffel Tower, or Lois Is jumping off
a bridge and Niagara falls. It's not her trying to
get his attention. It's her trying to solve this big
puzzle as to what Lexel's Lex's angle is. And I
like the fact that they showed her actually doing this

(14:01):
reporter work, doing all this you know, deep diving and
writing this story. I did appreciate the the stick with
them flying around in the Terrific ship where she just
kept crashing into stuff. I thought that was kind of funny.
So I agree with you in the respect that they
interjected enough comedy at the right points and it wasn't

(14:22):
forced all of the time, opposed to some of the
other movies that we've seen where they're just like, okay,
really really serious and then let's try to slide a
joke in and doesn't land stuff with her like crashing
the ship while she's talking to Jimmy. It was very
fun to watch some of that stuff. But again, I
I hope they give her more to do in the
next one, or you know, imbue her with powers like

(14:44):
they have in other stories, which would be kind of cool.

Speaker 4 (14:48):
And So, as a dog person, even though he was
mostly CGI, you were happy with Crypto, then.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yes, I have three dogs. The CGI could have been better,
but I get it. You can only do so much
with the CGI dog. I'm not expecting Scooby Doo, but
Crypto was fun.

Speaker 4 (15:05):
Shouts out ahead the badoor. I guess that comes to
Scooby Doo and shaws when it comes to you know
mentioned of course, so we've had so many different iterations
of both Superman and Louis Laynon. So what do you
make of this current version.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
Well, I think, after again Man of Steele's Henry Cavell,
who was either acted in a very wooden manner by Cavell,
who is not the doesn't have exactly the greatest range,
and his Superman was portrayed as this, you know, godlike Messiah.

(15:42):
David Cornsweat comes in and James Gunn's primary mission, I
think with this iteration of Superman is to make him
grounded and relatable to the audience as a human being,
not just as a person, not just something that you
know that again, this this godlike figure that's constantly floating

(16:03):
over everyone and and being somewhat emotionalless. This one has
you know, he he he's able to equip, He has
a very which is something that I think goes all
the way back to Jerry Siegle's original iteration of Superman
where that he was tossing off one liners. So again

(16:26):
it's it's gone embracing comics history. This is something that
you know that I think Superman and film has always
been criticized well, he's got so many powers you can't
relate to him. And I think that's just complete garbage,
because if you can't relate to somebody who lost their
parents and was adopted by another set of parents, raised

(16:50):
to do the right thing, then the problem is you
not Superman. And and you know, and you've got obviously
the Luther Online trolls being very cynical about that kind
of a take, you know, the troll monkeys that they're
being so cynical about Superman. But this is the Superman

(17:13):
that that you know, he would like to hang out with.
And Cavill's Superman wasn't that guy. His chemistry with Amy
Adams did not click. And so this chemistry I thought
that with Rachel Brosnahan was superb. You know that they
played off each other very well. Keith was bringing up

(17:34):
the interview scene where Lois was talking with Superman or
at least you know Clark, you know, in the in
speaking as Superman and Clark. The reason he was so
emotional was because he's passionate about saving people and he
sees it in a very and some might argue, at
least the cynics would that very naive way that He's

(17:56):
just someone who's like, Okay, I got I need to
go out and do the right thing, because the right
thing is to save these people. And Lois is just
being more pragmatic. And that's the differences in their personalities. She's,
you know, she's a little bit more cynical than he is.
She's a little more pragmatic than he is. He just
wants to do the right thing, and she's just telling him, well,

(18:19):
if you do that, this is going to happen, and
there are repercussions of that act. And so Clark was,
you know, understandably getting frustrated by that, and he was
showing his emotions. And again, it's a more emotional Superman
than what we've seen recently, and I thought that Gunn

(18:39):
did a pretty good job with that. He you know,
he's he's and you know, he's not doing it. And
they weren't like, you know, fighting with each other. It
was just, you know, Lois is pointing out something that's
just frustrating him. And I think in the back of
his mind Clark knows that she's right, but it still
annoys him that that you have to worry about things

(19:03):
like Okay, well, I guess I better check with this guy.
I guess a better check with the president or so
and so before I saved these people before they die.
And and that's I think the essence of Superman. Superman
doesn't worry, isn't going to worry so much about politics
if it stands between him and saving someone's life. And

(19:24):
if you don't understand that, you don't really understand Superman.
So I thought that was a refreshing change of pace
and being crypto bring brought in, I think is a
very much enough too, a gun embracing the Silver age
weirdness of Superman comics, and it's something that that Graham

(19:47):
Morrison did try to update for a modern audience in
All Star Superman, which was a major influence for this movie.
So I think that that that kind of that type
of storytelling is what Gunn was trying to emulate in
a lot of ways. On top of that, he thought

(20:08):
that that would be kind of a way to connect
with his audience, and for by and large he did.
They're obviously he didn't connect with everybody. You're not gonna
connect with everybody with film. I mean, there's there are
people out there that don't like The Godfather there are
people out there for some reason that don't like Alien. Okay,
so so you can't connect with everyone. But but in

(20:33):
my case, when I was watching this film, the movie
ended and people were genuinely applauding and with their approval.
So if you're doing that with a Superman movie, you're
doing something right as far as I'm concerned. And I
liked the I like the CGI with Crypto. I thought
it was for for what it was. I thought it

(20:54):
had enough to it wasn't you know. Yeah, maybe the
CG She's g I wasn't perfect in places, but it
certainly conveyed the character enough. The character was likable, and
I think if Freddy dog owner could probably relate when
a dog is jumping on you and you're not feeling

(21:16):
well at that particular moment in time, my cats do that.
So and then, but you know, you also get great
moments where, like, you know, Crypto is laying on Clark's
chest as he's recuperating from his injuries and his in
his boyhood bedroom at the Kent Farm. So so I
appreciated that, and uh and uh, I'll be looking forward

(21:39):
to seeing Crypto again in Supergirl next.

Speaker 5 (21:41):
Year exactly which was obviously I guess the reveal that
he's actually Supergirl's dog and not Superman's and he was
just dog sitting him, which I guess would probably explain
why maybe he's having more trouble, should we say.

Speaker 4 (21:53):
Dealing with so than his owner, if you will, with
you know, with Kara, who probably has a different kind
of relationship when it comes to dealing with Crypto. And
I thought that was a fun reveal. I and you know,
you make some great points there because you know, if
you do compare this with what we've seen with the
dece Extended Universe, with the caval run as Superman, they
are dramatically different. And I think, yeah, here Clark is

(22:17):
not afraid or he a gun Tris is not afraid
to give Superman a heart and show him that, to
show that he's not just a muscle bound superpowered being
and possibly the most powerful being on Earth. But there's
much more to him than that. You know, obviously, he's
a person with he's a person with feelings and thoughts
and and like you said to him, it's all about
doing the right thing and helping people and obviously not

(22:38):
worrying about the political ramifications. And that makes me think
of way back when of the Siegul and Shooster comic
book Run, where this is how Superman literally stops World
War two. He flies in, grabs more sort and he
grabs Hitler, grabs DoD and off he takes them, you know,
to stand a trial without worrying about any of the
other once again political ramifications. And this is kind of
similar to what he does with it.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
And apparently he was working ninety thirty eight.

Speaker 4 (23:00):
Go figure exactly way back when so so, and this
is no different, you know, when it comes to him
trying to stop this war. Granted, he agrees that both
nations have their faults, neither are perfect nations, but if
there's one or one one nation attacking the other, he's
going to stand for the nation that's being oppressed rather

(23:21):
than the oppressor, not worrying about as I said, everything,
all the all the bureaucracy that surrounds that. And I
love the fact that this lowest lane is very much
Clark's equal, as in she's not even to Keith's point,
a damsel in distress. One. We actually see her do
some journalistic stuff and and and what have you, and
introduced some detectoring which is key to the lowest character,

(23:44):
but also the conversations that she has with Clark. You
can clearly tell that that that they are equal within
this partnership and this relationship that they've got, and the
fact that she points out all these things in their
interview that they do. Yes, Clark is frustrated because of
the fact that she's pointing this out to him, but
I think at the same time he realizes that she
is right, and ultimately by the end of the movie,

(24:05):
obviously they kiss and makeup, and what a kiss and
makeup they have. But I've actually.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
Been in that location where they kissed. By the way,
there was filmed in Cleveland, so so yeah, it's got
it's the Arcade in Cleveland.

Speaker 4 (24:18):
So that's fantastic, And I'm glad that they actually filmed
some of the stuff in you know, the home state
of and sho.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
Stages exactly, which is where Superman was created. Yeah, exactly,
just outside of Cleveland.

Speaker 4 (24:33):
Yeah, that's a one that which is a wonderful thing.
So I appreciate their relationship. And also I like the
fact that Superman in this initial movie that we see
this version goes through so much in one film, and
we see him beaten down. We see him almost dying
of kryptonite poisoning, and we see him becoming almost a
pariah when we hear about the message from his parents. Now,

(24:56):
whether that is doctored or not, I guess we'll find
out down the lone. I was pretty shocked when it
came to that, and I'm sure we can probably. I
actually wanted to get your guys's thoughts on that when
it came to the message being repaired and finding out
that apparently his biological parents wanted him to go to
Earth and become, you know, a dictator and apparently have

(25:17):
a harem of women in order to further the line,
the genetic line of super people. I have my thoughts
on that. I'm I think it might be a doctored
but could be I could be wrong. And the fact
that then you know, He'm.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
Right there with you. I'm right there with you, nick Ah.

Speaker 4 (25:32):
So you do think that there's there's some something with
somebody was messing around with that message?

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Yeah, I think I think there eventually that's going to
come out in a in a future storyline somewhere. M
and uh, maybe in a Supergirl movie perhaps, But but yeah,
and I don't buy that at all. I don't buy
that message. It's because otherwise, why would you introduce the
concept that it was corrupted exactly if you weren't, if

(25:56):
you weren't seeding that doubt.

Speaker 4 (25:59):
Plus I think also go ahead.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
Oh sorry, I was just to say it was also
an aggressive tonal change from the first half of the
message to the second half. It just it didn't in
my mind jive because you get that we love you,
we had, you know, have a good time. You know,
we understand what's going to happen. While okay, knock up
everybody you meet, Like, wow, I just went left real hard.
So I would wouldn't be surprised if you do see

(26:23):
that it's a bringing a corruption or some other you
know something or other. Because the engineers too, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
Yeah, and the fact that, oh, Jora and Lara weren't
exactly being all emotional and angry when they were delivering
whatever message they were they were saying. So it just
they they stayed consistently emotionally calm throughout the entire message.

Speaker 4 (26:49):
It was almost too cold, if you will, to be genuine.
But yeah, I think you needed that because obviously if
it's you know, flex is behind that, you need to
obviously make super Man and pariah and make people hate
him as much as Lex hate Superman, and so so
every so much stuff happens to to Clark about the
course of this one film. But obviously, like the great

(27:11):
hero that he is able to, you know, come through
thanks to obviously teaming up with some other characters that
we will be talking about here shortly.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
But I think, well Lewis and Jimmy obviously exonerating him,
which we'll talk about.

Speaker 4 (27:22):
Yeah, definitely, exactly, and that and we still have to
know what Jimmy's superpower is when it comes to the ladies,
which still has to be explained.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
But that was well, that's that's why they call him
mister Action. Nick good point.

Speaker 4 (27:38):
That's that's very true.

Speaker 2 (27:39):
That's why you're com up with fans out there.

Speaker 4 (27:41):
Yes, well, well played. But yeah, so I was very
happy with this, and like I said, we very much
had a hero's journey, even though it wasn't really necessarily
Hero's journey because he's been Superman for a while. But
I really loved it and it really cemented I think,
who these two characters are, and I'm very much looking
forward to seeing where they will go from here. So
before we get to another significant group of characters. You know,

(28:05):
we touched up on this affair earlier. I think we
would be you know, it would be important to talk
about briefly Superman's parents, I e. You know, his Should
we say that the Kent's because it's a very different
version of the Kent. So did either of you have
any thoughts when it came to this version of mom
par Kent?

Speaker 2 (28:28):
Keith, do you want to go ahead?

Speaker 3 (28:30):
No, I don't wan to say. I'll let you go first.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
Charles, Okay, Yeah, the Kent I thought were Kent were
a part of the flaws I think of this movie.
I thought that the Kent I think a lot of
people are so used to, especially John Schneider and Annett
o'tooles Jonathan and Martha Ken on Smallville, that that's kind

(28:52):
of the the bar for the Kents. I think that
there was an attempt and I and I Well do
some research on this film that James Gunn, you know,
had the actors try to do an authentic Canson accent.
But I think that was a bad choice because it

(29:12):
essentially I thought he gave them, or at least it
depicted them as being more of hicks, you know, like
country hicks, and not being all at least coming off
as not all that bright, and so I thought that
that was a misstep by Gunn. I think because this

(29:34):
movie is not perfect, but it's I think the the
the greatness outweighs the flaws in this so it's still
that positive for me. But but I think that The
Kents was something that should have been handled a little better.
I liked I like the the depiction of oh Taylor Vince,

(29:58):
who played Jonathan Kent. I liked his little heartfelt moment
with Clark on the steps where he's putting his arms
around his son and trying to reassure him that his
actions are you know what make you who you are.
I thought that was a good message and I was
glad to see that. But I thought that that that

(30:18):
I thought Neva Howell's Martha Kent could have been handled
a little bit better. Apart from just like, Okay, well
I've got your boots all ready for you. I thought
that that could have been you know, just I thought
that the character was kind of underwritten. And obviously we've
seen better versions of Martha Kent on TV and new
film so that's my take.

Speaker 4 (30:41):
Heith, what did you think of this version of John
and Martha Kent?

Speaker 3 (30:45):
I agree, but I'm the og Superman, so I'm more
of the Glenn Ford pod Kent. But even then it
was still done. Both of them were done better than
what we got represented in this movie. The whole scene
where Mom is yelling at the phone own on speaker
phone while trying to talk to Clark, it was like, Okay,
we get it. They're there from the hills of you know,

(31:08):
blah blah blah, and they're not technologically savvy.

Speaker 2 (31:10):
But it just there are no hills in Kansas, by
the way.

Speaker 3 (31:12):
Yeah, I know that. I'm aware that it's just acres
and flat worn it's flat. I'm aware mountains and hills,
I'd be concerned, but yeah, they're out back, you know,
the way back in Kansas where that's you know, acres
and acres of corn. We get it, they're rural individuals,
but just to make them so oblivious to technology, and

(31:33):
like you said, Charles, like okay, I got your boots polished,
like what like what kind of just oh? I groaned,
But I did appreciate that conversation they had on the steps.
You know he you know, bonding like saying, your actions
make who you are. It's not this other noise that
you're hearing about. That's what makes you who you are.
And even in the original Superman in seventy eight, Podkent

(31:56):
had that conversation with Clark about, you know, showing off
with his powers in a bit, so they both had
their grounded conversations are here for.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
A reason exactly, like he's reason, I don't know what
the reason is, but it's not to score touchdowns, right exactly.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
Yeah, And even at the end when he's trying to
save lois that you keep hearing that you're here for
a reason, You're here for a reason, and then you
hear Darrell's like, you can't interfere. So in both iterations
you get that you're here for a reason, but don't interfere.
And he kind of picks the medium where he knows
the reason he's here too, literally interfere and to do

(32:31):
the greater good by whatever means necessary, as you guys
have both pointed out, and that's the what they're trying
to get across with these conversations with him and his father. Again,
the mothers were a little kind of like, Okay, they're
off doing the thing. I'm surprice din to come out
and be like, okay, here's some lemonade and just like
handed to him and walk away. That was the kind
of writing they insulted her with, And I didn't like

(32:54):
that at all.

Speaker 4 (32:56):
Yeah, moth at least at.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
Least Podca didn't end up dying in a torn for
no reason.

Speaker 3 (33:01):
Right, Oh, I don't even bring that up. Was dumb too, But.

Speaker 4 (33:05):
I do agree. I can see why they maybe gun
wanted to go for authenticity when it came to the accent,
but I think it was I agree was very much
overdone because because they do very much come across as hillbillies,
and in fact, even at the office, we see that
Clark is being made fun of by you know, had
the Daily Planet, by his by his coworkers saying, oh,

(33:26):
you know, they're going to be cooking raccoons, all this
kind of thing, all the sort of stereotypes that go
with folks who live in the Deep South. And and yes,
they the fact that they're.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
In the Midwest, it's not in the South. They just
sound like they're in the South.

Speaker 4 (33:39):
Right exactly.

Speaker 3 (33:40):
The accent was so JANKI it didn't make sense where they.

Speaker 4 (33:42):
Were factcause it was like these guys from Arkansas from
Texas because the accent very much sounded you know, more
deep South than it did Midwest.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
But it didn't.

Speaker 4 (33:50):
But you know that was that was just my thought
on it anyways. But yes, so they very much came
across as as as incredibly you know, backwards, very much,
very ignorant. The fact they're literally yelling into the phone
and not seeming very savvy and very sort of I
didn't that was that, I agree. The were the parts
that I didn't particularly enjoy about this, about this particular film.
What all this this particular portrayal of two characters who

(34:11):
are core when it comes to Clark and who he is.
And we'll see this even more so at the end
of this film when we're showing you how much he
loves his parents so and I think even when they
call him, you always seem kind of chuckling because like,
oh no, my parents are just so hopeless. They just
can't understand a phone and this kind of thing. So
there is that on Clark's part, but they were dumbed

(34:34):
down too much. And I think definitely Martha was the
one who was who really got to the short end
of the stick when it comes to this, because we
know what an important character she is, aside from obviously
Batman and Superman yelling at each other in Batman Be's
Superman Down of Justice.

Speaker 3 (34:47):
But when did you say the name why Martha?

Speaker 4 (34:51):
Yeah, but I think Martha and in this case should
have been given a little bit more. Hopefully she will
be given a little bit more as we get to
future movies. But yeah, I agree with you guys when
it came to too these two. So I guess they're
moving on. Let's get to what here is known as
the Justice Gang. We have and Nathan Fillion as Guy

(35:12):
Gardner Green Lantern, Isabela meyr Said as Kendrasland as Hawk Girl,
Eddie Gathigi as Michael Holt, Miss Terrific, and later joining
the group is of course Anthony Carrigan as Rex Mason Metamorpho.
So at Charles, starting with you, what did you make
of the Justice Gang?

Speaker 2 (35:30):
Well, the Justice Gang, I know it's it's gonna raise
a few eyebrows among comics fans, but obviously the reason
that they're called the Justice Gang is because Gunn wants
to build up to the Justice League once again through
future movies. I mean, you got to reintroduce Batman, you
got to reintroduce Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Flash you know

(35:53):
he has where we're still waiting for John Stewart, so
who will likely be the new Green Lantern for for
this Justice League. But so it's kind of like a
temporary nom de plume. And this depiction of the Justice
Gang kind of very much echoes the Keith Giffen, jam
Dematis and Kevin Maguire Justice League International from the eighties,

(36:18):
of which Gunn is reportedly a very big fan of.
And so if you enjoyed that kind of more comedic
take on the Justice League, that's probably why. That's the
probably the tone that gun was, you know, trying to
emulate with their depiction. I think that I think mister
terrific Edie Cathie's character did was obviously the big highlight

(36:45):
of the Justice Gang. I think he's someone who potentially
could get spun off into a solo movie or a
solo TV series if they so desire. I thought that
he was, you know, yeah, he maybe have been a
little bit more I think a little more brusque than

(37:07):
we see him normally in the comics, But I think
this that's kind of something that the storyline demanded a
little bit. So I'm you know, I can I can
give it a give it a pass. But I thought
that he was someone who obviously contributed a lot to
the plot, especially when they started talking about pocket universes
and you know, with the nice little recurring gag of ohly,

(37:31):
the cloning controls of the tea the t ship are
are easy to understand. And then of course Lois, who's
obviously never flown the thing and isn't, as you know,
a prodigt, enough of a prodigy like Michael Holt, mister terrific,
has difficulty with them, as probably anyone would, so so

(37:52):
I kind of appreciated that. And I thought that Hawk
Earl I thought was interesting. I love Isabella Mercede on
the Last of Us, so I was really looking forward
to seeing her as Hawk Girl in this movie. And
I thought it was interesting to have her kill the
the the president of you know, the the you know,

(38:15):
Vladimir Putin analog character.

Speaker 4 (38:18):
And President Bravia. I believe it was.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
President Bravia, Yeah, exactly, who was obviously, like I said,
you know, more of a a someone to to try to,
you know, the representation of Vladimir Putin in the story
that with obviously the other side being the Ukraine. That
I thought that, uh, that's something that could come into
play later, and I'm kind of curious to see if

(38:41):
it will, to see what kind of ramifications, because obviously,
you know, if you're talking, if you're Lois and you're
you're you're interviewing Clark about like, whoa, what did you
notify the president? Well, here's Hawk girl killing a Ford leader.
So I'm curious to see what ramifications will come of that,
and perhaps that something that will get brought in later,

(39:01):
perhaps in the Peacemaker TV series. I don't know. But
Guy Gardner I thought was very much Guy Gardner, and
that was the point. Obviously the Lanyards TV series is
a little bit, way, a little bit off yet so
so Guy Gardner's you know, and especially Guy Gardner again

(39:22):
echoing back to the Justice League International comic book, I thought,
was you know, very much in character. I thought Nathan
Fillion did justice to the role. He's normally known for
voicing Hal Jordan in Green Lantern animated projects, so to
have him play Guy instead is interesting and I'm glad

(39:45):
they gave him the bowl cut. I'm curious to see
if they'll ditch the bowl cut in future projects. But
for this film, you know, just to just to have
Lois do the gag about like, yeah, you should do
something about that haircut before she walks out of the
Hall of Justice, I thought was funny. And as far

(40:06):
as Metamorpho, I thought I was really glad to see
Metamorpho because we've never seen a live action version of
Metamorpho ever, and I thought that Gun handled this character
pretty well. He went back to Justice League Europe Comics
for the concept of Metamorpho having a son with Sapphire Stag,

(40:27):
and that was something that it was a major comics
deep dive that I did not expect, but he went there.
So it's obviously Gun again showing is his love of
comics lore. And I like the fact that that Metamorpho
wasn't a villain. He was someone who was under duress

(40:48):
because of Luther having his kid and being forced to
use Kryptonite on Superman, but ultimately he's obviously a good
guy and ends up joining the team toward the end
of the movie. So so I'm curious to steve him
the character again and possibly some maybe there will be
a Justice Gang spinoff series. I don't know, but I

(41:12):
thought it was obviously the four characters. You know, they
had come from a lot of desperate backgrounds in the
DC universe, So again you have to wonder, Okay, how
is gonna gun going to use those in future DCU projects?
And I guess we'll see going forward.

Speaker 4 (41:30):
I'm sure we definitely will and be interested to see
where these guys end up further on. And Keith, what
did you make of the Justice Gang?

Speaker 3 (41:40):
They were interesting. It was It's like a love Hey
kind of thing because I, as Charles mentioned, I like
the young lady who plays Hawkgirl. I first saw her.
I found her by accident watching Dora the Explorer as
a goof and she's just that funny in that, and
I watched her Madam Webb. Then I watched her in
this and I got to give her credit for trying

(42:01):
to get on one of these universes. While the Madam
web movie is what it is, I hope they really
give her some legs in this one. It'd be interesting
to see how they how and if they give her
a true origin to the comics or we're just gonna
be like, ah, she's a girl who has wings and
we're just gonna go with that and move on, or

(42:22):
we're gonna play into the bigger overarching story with her.
Mister Terrific, I'm a little on the fence with him.
I like the actor. I think some of his comments
were a little like wonky, but it's fine. I think
it was more of just me with the overall dialogue

(42:43):
in the movie. I hope we see more of them.
I love mister Terrific, all these characters they picked, except
for Guy Gardner, I want more of them. I'm not
a Guy Gardner fan. I'm a Kyle Guy. I'm sorry.
I'm a nineties kid, so I'm more of the Kyle
Rainer and I would really love to see Kyle Yeah, yeah, right,
he's a sleeper Green lantern. But I get you know,

(43:04):
John Stewart, I'm looking for John Stewart. If they could
have cast our original voice actor for John Stewart in this,
sign me up because John Stewart's one of the more
interesting Green lanterns. Guy is just the butt of a
lot of jokes and he is comedy relief. I jokingly
called him Shemp because he has that same style haircut

(43:27):
as the Force more than but yeah, yeah, but but
MPO had like the little dirty part in the middle.
But yeah, you're a but he was essentially a stooge
and that's how he was, you know, playing the part.
I know as well as you do. Charles. He does
grow and mature and become a better green Lantern and
gets out of his child. So I'm hoping they kind

(43:48):
of like speed run past that so we see him.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
The Curry the Lanterns TV series, because he's supposed to
be in that as well as connecting tissue to write
the TV series exactly.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
So I'm hoping he kind of gets his crap together
because he does eventually become an interesting character as well.
But considering all the Lanterns that we have in the
or potentially could have in this universe, he's definitely on
the lower rung for me. I like Nathan, Don't get
me wrong. I think he does a great job voicing
Hal in every iteration I've ever seen of him. When

(44:21):
I heard them announce him joining, I'm like, cool, he's
gonna be Hal and like and he's gonna be Guy.
Gardner was like foon of a like. I was mad
because again, I like the actor, so I'm waiting to
see the Unfortunately, these three characters, except for mister Terrific
because he does solve the whole port Oal Shenanigans and

(44:43):
the universe and YadA, YadA YadA, the other two seemed
very after the fact. Yes, she does kill the head
of that country, and even her response was spot on
for that, the actress when she's like, I'm not him
and then just let's go of him, and I was like,
what the.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
So, but yeah, that was the show. Contrast, I think
with Superman, the Superman doesn't kill, but she does.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
Right, and anybody who knows Hawkgirl knows she's willing to
cross that line as needed. So I'm thinking they're gonna
go like full Fanagar opposed to that weird Egyptian resurrection
Shenanigans we got there, So if they go the route
a spot on for the character, I hope we see
her grow literally figuratively because she's you know, about four

(45:28):
foot tall. They use her more throughout the universe, especially
if they do a full Justice League like we've seen
in the animated series. That's where I think they're going
with this. More of the animated series Justice League like
a Justice League Unlimited exactly, which I'm fine with that too,
because again, there's so many characters metamorpho. I'm kind of

(45:50):
torn on and I say that because I'm like, I
remember Rex, Like he's the Indiana Jones that happens to
go into the Temple of Doom and come out purple,
you know. So I'm hoping they go. If they do
change his origin a little bit, they make him more
I'm not gonna say book nerdish, because there's those scenes

(46:11):
where he's going through the chemical breakdowns of different things.
So he's clearly a very intelligent individual. So if they
go more of the science accident avenue, which is where
Vibe seems to be going, I'm fine with that because
you see him trying to create a son. He's like,
all right, I need this, Adam, and he's mumbling off
to himself showing you his process, which I thought was
awesome both with creating Green the Green Lantern, creating the Kryptonite,

(46:36):
and also with creating the Little Mini Star to supercharge Superman.
So I another character. I hope we get more of
either in an animated iteration live action, but keep the
voice actor keep the vibe. I kind of want to
see them grow. And I even appreciated the cut scene
where he's sitting there with her and the baby, and

(46:57):
I'm like ooh, ooh ooh. And you know, I nerd
out for a hot minute because, as you said, Charles,
now everybody's gonna know all of his background or every
minor detail because they have changed it over the years.
So the fact that they had them in it, I'm
just missing the caveman esque guy because I can't check Java.
I was went for walking in.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
Simon said he did get Stag Industries.

Speaker 3 (47:20):
True, so there's a lot that we you know, there's
a lot.

Speaker 2 (47:23):
Of people get a Metamorphos series or something.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
Don't don't with my motions, Charles.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
By the way, that was Anthony Kerrigan's real life girlfriend
as Sapphire Stag.

Speaker 3 (47:34):
So oh, I didn't know that.

Speaker 4 (47:35):
Good to know. Oh, that's that's very very cool. I
you know, I, by and large, I think I tend
to agree with what you guys mentioned. A guy Gardiner
got on my nerves so much, but that is the.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
Point of the castas point.

Speaker 4 (47:49):
Yeah, exactly. And we know that James is very good
at directing t movies. You know, were guards of the
Galaxy reesely creached commandos, and I think here he went
to town when it came to the Justice Gang, because
it's something that we know he's very comfortable with and
he's very good at doing. And this I think shows
very much in this because there are few guarding the

(48:10):
Galaxy vibes, maybe even creature commando vibes. When it comes
to the way these characters interact with both each other
and the outside world. Guy Garner, you know, is definitely
like sort of the asshat of the group. He's not
a nice guy, or rather not a nice.

Speaker 2 (48:25):
Just every family has one, Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4 (48:27):
I wouldn't say not a nice guy. Guess he's very
unpleasant sitting here. I mean, I guess you could say
he's just very unpleasant rather.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
A benefit of the doubt Keith.

Speaker 4 (48:39):
But at the end of the day, I hope he
I mean, and I and I appreciate Nathan for going
to keep the hairstyle because obviously that's how we know
guy in the in the OG comics. Hopefully as things progress,
I agree with you both. I think I hope he
gets the buzz cut at some point. The more militaristic
cut the week that I think suits the character better

(48:59):
because we obviously, I believe his memory saves. Guy was
military before he became a green lantern. So h that
was John Okay, So so I mean, I just hope
that obviously this character will become less unpleasant as things progress.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
Probably give a buzz cut time down and get the
the clippers out and go to time.

Speaker 4 (49:20):
I hope that's amazing. I really hope.

Speaker 1 (49:23):
So.

Speaker 4 (49:24):
But I mean I doubt Guy will probably become less unpleasant.
Maybe he'll show that he's like trying to be the
jerk with a heart as things progress. Knowing Gun, with
these kind of characters, they will often come across as
being a bit jockey and what have you, and then
they actually show you that they really are heartfelt characters.
So possibly as things progress, we might see more of
that from Guy. Same, I guess with Hawk Girl, because

(49:45):
Kendra is you know, if we go the Thanagar route,
she is also a war from a warlike people, so
she carries herself as a warrior when it comes to
everything that she does, even in this movie. Grant that
even dare I say, elements of Valkyrie when it comes
to this character from the MCU with the way she
seems like she doesn't care about anything. He's just kind

(50:06):
of lounging around expressing how much she can't stand the
name Justice Gang and what have you.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
But she's just not drunk all the time like Valkyri was.

Speaker 4 (50:15):
That's the only difference is she doesn't have a bottle
by her all the time, so but she still has
I think that that's valkyrie esque traits in the character
when it comes to way she carries herself very much
assured and strong in herself and literally prepared, like you
guys mentioned, to cross the line and literally kill the

(50:35):
president of Bravia. So it'll be curious to see whether
that will eventually be addressed in future movies. But I
think He's Avila did a great job when it came
to playing this character because it works within the team
group to have all these diverse characters, because nobody could
be more different from these two. The mister Terrific, who
is very much all about is the science guy of

(50:55):
the group.

Speaker 2 (50:56):
And He's and Richard's are the DC universe.

Speaker 4 (51:00):
Yeah, and just like you see the way he reasons
with things he can't he almost seems like he can't
take a joke, or if somebody says something that's wrong,
wrong scientifically, he will immediately correct them. Case in point,
when Lewis says circle, he's like, that's not a circle,
it's a spear. It's a sphere spear. Yeah, So he's
very he there's so punctivous when it comes to those things,

(51:22):
like you have to say things the way they are,
I'm going to correct you immediately if they're wrong. And
then he assumes, of course that anybody can pilot his
his ship because it's it's so easy because obviously he
is a genius and he's terrific exactly, and so he
expects people to be just as good if not. Yeah,
so I liked I Miss I'm misterrific. Was probably one

(51:43):
of my favorites of the of the Bunch, just because
the way he handled himself and the said super sciencey guy,
and just of it was to him. It was one
about getting the mission done. He does seem a little
bit emotionally detached, and maybe maybe we'll see more of
that later or that something happened to him because he
is that way. We simply is that way.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
If you know anything about in the comics, that something
did happen to him. Ah, because his wife was killed
in the comics, then that's what.

Speaker 4 (52:10):
That's what.

Speaker 2 (52:10):
That's what. Of course, that you know has him eventually
become mister Terrific in the first place, is the death
of his wife?

Speaker 4 (52:17):
All right, Okay, well then I guess we might see
if you then that might if they address that, which
is why maybe he becomes more emotionally detached from people
and just focuses on being mister Terrific and doing his thing.
But I think there was This was a wonderful introduction
to to this particular movie and the universe. And I
agree with you guys when it comes to Metamorpho. I
loved this character. RANTI. We didn't get too much of him.

(52:40):
Hopefully we will more down the line, but I'm glad
they didn't actually make him a villain like you guys,
like you were alluding to earlier childs the fact he's
under the urest from Luther to literally keep Superman at
bay by creating Kryptoni and obviously having his child. But
it will be what I'm really looking forward to seeing
how he will interact with the rest of the group
on the line of the comp when the Justice Gang

(53:01):
is more established, so that's something I'm really looking forward to.
But I think was a great interaction. It's wonderful to
see the first live action version of such a beloved character,
so and and Anthony Karagan did a great job playing him.
So before we get two hour big bad guys, speaking
of the character who of whom we'll be seeing a
four blown movie next, I think we'd be remiss if

(53:23):
we didn't mention her. Of course, we do have a
cameo towards the end of the movie from Millie Alcock, who,
of course is Carra Zurel Supergirl, and we'll be reprising
the character in the solo movie. So you know, Keith,
starting here with you, what did you make of the
introduction of Supergirl.

Speaker 3 (53:39):
This kind of goes back to my whole Guy Gardner
reference before when they announced her, I was like, because
I wasn't a big house with a dragon fan. I'm
still not, but I've seen enough of it to know
see her her prowess as it were, So I think
it's going to be interesting. I thought it was funny
because and Charles, you correct me if I'm wrong. Her

(54:02):
getting drunk that is from the more recent Supergirl run right,
that's not from like, yeah, way the heck back one. Correct, Yeah,
it started.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
It starts off with the limited series Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow,
which is what the new Supergirl movie is based on.
And so she starts off celebrating her twenty first birthday
by going to various space bars and getting hammered, and
it's only through other events that she know she sobers
up and it's a more serious film. But so I

(54:31):
think this whole thing was a kind of a tease
of the opening of that movie.

Speaker 3 (54:39):
Yeah, and that's what I thought. I could not remember.
I'm like, wait, I only know if this is a
recently last handful of years kind of story, not like
some obscure reference to a nineteen eighty four comic with
stupid glasses that hypnotize people, like some throwaway line. So yeah,
I liked her weirdly enough. I was like when I
saw in the costume when her comes staggering out and
she's like kind of the car on, and I was like, Okay,
sign me up. I had to see her on se

(55:02):
or on screen rather with the costume, in the interaction
with her and kell El, especially when he's like really
like he's even being annoyed.

Speaker 2 (55:11):
So seeings like watching your little sister come home drunk, yeah, exactly,
from or.

Speaker 4 (55:17):
Any sibling exactly.

Speaker 3 (55:18):
So I'm actually surprisingly looking forward to that one. That
was a nice change.

Speaker 4 (55:25):
And the childs. Were you happy with this introduction of media,
I will Coke.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
I mean, I understood the depiction of her being drunk
in the scene and kind of a mess. I got it.
But uh, I know that for certain people that don't
know about the comics and don't know a lot apart
from maybe watching the Supergirl TV series, it's gonna be
kind of a it's gonna be a bit of a shock.

(55:52):
And I think that's I think it's something that Gun
could have handled better than you know, just maybe not
having her drunk in that scene I think would have
would have helped immensely. I mean, it's only a cameo,
so it's not like it's a deal breaker for the
entire movie. But I think if you and I understand

(56:14):
why he did it, did it because it's essentially teasing
the Supergirl movie next year. But I think that wasn't
the way to go with this particular introduction that way.
I think it could have been handled a little better
in a little differently, but points to Mellie Alcock. I'm
really looking forward to is the first time we got

(56:34):
to see her in the costume officially, So so I'm
looking forward to the movie next year.

Speaker 4 (56:41):
And were you okay with the fact that Crypto was
her dog and clocks.

Speaker 2 (56:46):
That is a little bit of a change. I mean,
she she kind of watches over Crypto. There are some
bad things that are going to happen to Crypto in
the Supergirl movie if they follow the comic book that
it's based on. But so just heads up everybody. But
but she obviously cares about Crypto, and I think that

(57:06):
the change was a little unexpected, that it's it's more
Carra's dog than Clark's. I guess that means we're not
gonna get the introduction of Streaky the super Cat, because
that's generally associated with Supergirl. And so I'm like, over
here and you're not gonna introduce me, come on. So

(57:27):
uh so I kind of feel bad for Streaky. All
two of you Streaky fans.

Speaker 3 (57:32):
Hey, Hey, hey, I like the cat and she's sleeping
in the back. You just don't realize it because you know,
cats are just very anti.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
Stright, right, but but yeah, we'll see more of Kara's
relationship with Crypto in the Super Gero movie. So stay tuned, everybody.

Speaker 4 (57:49):
Stay tuned. Indeed, I was just being continued exactly. I
was just as thrown as probably quite a few people were,
because I was not aware of the Supergo Woman of
Tomorrow comic book. Wrong. I was not aware of this.
It's this version you have mwork neck. I certainly do.
I certainly do, and so at first I was kind
of thrown. And I do think that maybe her showing

(58:11):
up drunk was probably not the best choice when it
came to introducing this character. I mean, granted, like I said,
maybe those who have a course to cobook background, we're like, oh, okay,
that's taken from from the latest comic book run. But
of course we know car as being more of a
wholesome character. I guess one could say, more noble and

(58:32):
not at a party girl. What I chalked it up
to was that she that maybe it went back to
what I knew of Supergirls, and she was alive and
you know, cognizant when Krypton was destroyed, and so she
was so devastated by that that she literally took to
drinking because it had such a traumatic effect on her

(58:53):
that this is why she behaves this way because she
saw it happen, unlike Clark did.

Speaker 2 (58:59):
So because Clark was just a baby, that's right, she
was so more of a teenager so when it happened.

Speaker 4 (59:06):
So that's maybe why that once again using the you know,
even though James didn't really have any sort of dealings
with this, going back to the Valkyrie characters, seeing all
her fellow Valkyries die in front of her, she became
she resorted to alcohol to kind of numb the pain.
And so maybe this could could maybe also be part
of Kara's character, is this is why she behaves this
way because of what's traumatized Grunt And she says she's

(59:28):
off the party on the Red Sun Planets so that
she can get drunk and it's her birthday and have you.
But I wonder whether, deep down, knowing Gun, there might
be some trauma behind that.

Speaker 2 (59:39):
And underlying trauma is what you're saying.

Speaker 4 (59:41):
Yeah, and that's why she behaves this way, and that's
why she's doing this because of what she has seen
and what she's experienced at such a young age. But
I did find it kind of It kind of make
me chuckle that she called Clark bitch. That was the
first time I'd ever heard a family member of Berte
clogs see you bitch.

Speaker 2 (59:56):
I'm like, wow, Well it was probably she was slow,
so it's probably more bitsh.

Speaker 4 (01:00:02):
Yes, and of course Clark being the guy that he is. Yeah,
that's my cousin. Whatever, you know, just get out of
here and enjoy yourself that it was. It was funny,
that's right. And I do look forward to seeing to
seeing the Super Gool movie. So we get more of
not only media Alcock bolls. So this version of caras Arel,

(01:00:24):
so I guess. Then rounding off our characters, let's get
to our villain. Of course, we have a mister Nicholas
Holt as Lex Luthor. So Keith starting with you, what
did you make of this version of Lex?

Speaker 3 (01:00:38):
You know, I really wish you'd start with Charles, but
that's fine. I'll go first.

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
I can go first if you want.

Speaker 3 (01:00:44):
No, No, it's fine, it's fine. I'm already traumatized by
this character. So I liked them well, I like the actor.
I wasn't really sold on his whole like reasoning behind
all of this. Just it turned to a very weird,
for a lack of a better term, pissing contest. He's like, oh,
you have all these powers, you know, blah blah blah.

(01:01:06):
He seemed like he was bullied as a child, and
now he is picking on the bully. And if that
makes any sense, anybody who has been bullied who then
becomes comes into power will bully other people that are strong,
and that's what this essentially turned into. He's like, well,
I did all this work and this was just handed
to you, So now I'm going to unleash my do
monkeys on you, which was amazing. By the way, the

(01:01:29):
troll monkeys just I couldn't help but laugh.

Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
Great, have a great dig on the Snyder bros. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Oh I was dying.

Speaker 3 (01:01:37):
I was like, I'm literally crying laughing. It was amazing.
So the certain things he does makes a lot of
sense for the Lex lusor that we all know. But
then the very end when he cries after that whole
big monologue exchange these two have, I'm like you had
me into like right there, like just like like I'm
sorry or like looking regretful a little bit like, Yeah,

(01:02:01):
that's not Lex. He's a sociopath. He doesn't have those
kinds of emotions. He can fake it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:05):
But you know, well, that's what he's trying to do.

Speaker 3 (01:02:08):
Yeah, right, that's what I say. That's what he potentially
was probably trying to, you know, pull in the quote
unquote heart strings. But we all know him. He's just
like gotta cry, I gotta cry. And then you see
him cry and you're like nope. And then even looking
when they pan back to Superman or Clark, he's just
sitting there with his arm crossed, like, yeah, I call
BS on this. I thought it was interesting his angle

(01:02:31):
in terms of the whole cloning process and creating this
insane process of like okay, S one R thirty seven
blot and training the clone with all these essentially dog commands,
if you want to call it anything better than that. Okay,
that makes a lot of sense. But then he hasn't
figured out that Clark is Superman or the red Sun

(01:02:53):
can sap him of his strength, which you were thought
he'd discover with ultraman clone that different radiations would have
different effects, as Luther being Luther would have experimented on
the clone to see what does what, because clearly he
supercharged him because Lex makes that comment, Oh, he's stronger
than you, so you had to experiment on him to

(01:03:13):
make him stronger, But you didn't think to experiment on
him to figure out what would potentially kill Superman faster.
So I think there was little disconnect between the two
and the I did actually like the banter between Lex
and Superman. That seemed genuine anybody who's seen the original
Superman movies or have read any of the old comic books,

(01:03:35):
because I know everybody got mad when Superman kicked in
his door and asked him where the dog was or
was losing their mind, and that's literally a reference from
like a nineteen eighty three comic or something crazy, so
all the little digs that they have. I was fine
with the banter between them. I was again, also good,
but it was just like that and us knowing him

(01:03:57):
the fake crying, I was like, yetto again, you could
have just not had that. I would have been okay
with it. So there's I hope to see him again.
He definitely he's gonna be my second favorite Lex, maybe
third because it's the original Gene Hackman. Then Smallville, and
then I would say him, but those two can kind

(01:04:17):
of go back and forth.

Speaker 4 (01:04:18):
So yeah, and definitely Michael Rosenbaum was a fantastic Lex
Luthor as of course, as much as the the late
great Gene Hackman was. I definitely agree with you that
Keith and Charles moving on from you know, g Yeah,
and Michael Rosemand what do you make of this version
of Lex Luthor?

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
Rousabub is actually in this movie, believe it or not.
He plays one of the Raptor guards in this so
I thought that was kind of cool. Nicholas holds a
fun actor. I like watching him. He was He was
fun as Beast in the X Men prequels. I thought that, Uh,

(01:04:55):
you know, I loved him at Mad Max Fiery Road,
and he's a great in this Oh what was it
the one where he plays a zombie that gets into
the romance.

Speaker 3 (01:05:08):
You know the movie or something like that.

Speaker 2 (01:05:11):
Oh yeah, yeah, something like that. But but yeah, he's
he's he's really good. I enjoyed his acting. I know
he was up for the role Superman, but I think
Luther was definitely a better fit for him, obviously, after
especially with David Gordon's what I think that Nicholas Holt definitely,
you know, he's playing a more a more modern take

(01:05:35):
on Lex Luthor. He's you know, he's more of the
it's kind of like, well with his lex is more
of like, okay, well, what if Elon Musk fought Superman
and it was Lex Luthor, Because that's basically what it is,
and his his hatred of Superman is very Again, it's

(01:05:57):
also very modern that he's using the you know, the
Snyder bro troll monkeys to rage farm online hatred, to
to turn public opinion against Superman, and he has this
campaign it's kind of a two step campaign plan of
his that I'm going to turn public opinion against Superman

(01:06:18):
so that he's essentially not a threat anymore, while my
ultimate plan is to work with the the the president
of the country that was invading the other country, and
try to become king of that country. So I thought

(01:06:42):
that the introduction he is using Ultraman was a very
interesting thing because there was a lot of online speculation
of who Ultraman really was or was going to be
revealed as, because he's masked throughout this most of this movie.
He's got a build like Henry Cavill, So I think
think a lot of people were wondering if handyed Cavil
would turn out to be under that mask. That didn't happen,

(01:07:06):
But there was also Ultraman is a character from DC comics. Essentially,
it's the Earth three version of Superman and an evil
alternate Earth version or at least, you know, alternate Crypton
version of Superman. You know that belongs to is a
member of the crime Syndicate. So there was speculation whether

(01:07:27):
there would be that character Ultraman. There was some online
also some online speculation of whether it was going to
be the Ultra Humanite perhaps under that mask, but who's
a classic Superman enemy from the Golden Age. But ultimately
I think that the logical choice would have been to

(01:07:47):
do Bizarro. And that's sort of what we get with
this version of Ultraman, is that it's a clone of Superman.
We just haven't gotten to the bizarre person portion of
that yet. So they didn't kill off Ultraman, if you noticed,
they just went into a black hole and was essentially

(01:08:08):
taken care of. Doesn't mean they couldn't bring the character
back at some point and there couldn't be further degradation,
because yeah, we obviously we haven't gotten Bizarro on the
big screen yet. He's been a lot of TV Superman
TV adaptations, but not on the big screen. And I
think that's a character that maybe we'll see at some

(01:08:30):
point in the sequel, should they do one.

Speaker 3 (01:08:34):
Now, I want Bizarro, no, right, I thought that seems logical, right, Yeah, no,
it does. The black hole could warp him a little
bit more and he comes back and he's we're not
going to say damage, but that the Bizarro disfigured. I
could see that, and that would I'd be fine or
not fine.

Speaker 2 (01:08:50):
I was just glad he wasn't Doomsday, right, I was.

Speaker 3 (01:08:54):
I actually thought there was a rumor online that there
could be a kal El you know that or Hallel
rather I'm sorry, you know, the clone the date from Krypton.
People thought it was gonna be something more along those
lines where he's corrupted like that, which he could also
turn into that character. But anybody but Doomsday.

Speaker 2 (01:09:10):
I was fine with.

Speaker 4 (01:09:12):
I just hope that this version of Ultraman does not
ultimately become Doomsday, because you know, once again, as Keith
and I have often talked about on offline, it's like
they always seem to go to the wall, you know,
moviemakers when it comes toumany seem to go the same
well when it comes to villains for Superman, whether it's
either Kryptonians or it's Doomsday.

Speaker 2 (01:09:32):
Or maybe Luther or General General Zad or Luther Luther General,
they always coined rock Paperers go and meanwhile, Brainiac fans
are over here going, hello Brainiac.

Speaker 3 (01:09:45):
I would love a Brainiac.

Speaker 4 (01:09:46):
I would be thrilled if we finally decided to go
with Brainiac for example. I mean that would that would
be that'll be wonderful. I would be incredibly happy, just
as I was incredibly happy with with this version of
Lex Luthor. I'm a huge Nick Holt, and it was
I've seen him in quite a few things, playing very
distinct and different characters, though I do not record if
I actually ever seen him play a full on villain,

(01:10:09):
and if he had, if he hasn't, and if this
is the first one, and of course the listeners correct
me if I'm wrong. He plays villain very very well,
and I definitely see the Heaton Musk parallels and also
a huge pettiness to this character. And we know that
Lex can be incredibly petty for the reasons why he
decides to go against Superman. Because like it's all about me, me, me,

(01:10:31):
me me, and suddenly this guy comes along and kind
of takes my spotlight. And we have seen Lex do
this before, so we know that for as genius level
as he is and as crafty as he is, he's
also incredibly petty and this very much shows in when
it comes to his his whole all discussion.

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
But he sees Metapolis as his city and here comes
Superman getting all the attention. That's why you know he's like, yeah,
like he's here for like five minutes and everybody's fawning
over him, so he gets he's just jealous of that.

Speaker 3 (01:11:00):
It's the Secret Origin story where he tried to be
the hero and then Superman came in and upstaged him.

Speaker 4 (01:11:04):
Yeah, which which what I said once again of incredibly
petty reasons to go after a guy. But I I
just love how manic he is, and not only the
genius style, but just how he behaves also around his
staff and and such. And I look forward to seeing
more of more of this Lex Luthor, because you really
really hated him, and so good job, mister Holt, because

(01:11:27):
I absolutely could not stand this guy, and I was
I would not have shown as much restraint as Superman did.
Know if he would have punched the gun face multiple
times because he certainly deserved them, but it was he
It was just great because I think it's he included
all the all the core traits of le the Lex
that we know and despise, and and we've seen so
many different versions of different takes on this character, but

(01:11:49):
I think, you know, it is very much a modern
version of Lex Luthor, and it's perfect for this particular
film and also shows you, I think what you know,
the the length still go to to destroy somebody he
doesn't he doesn't like, and this is exactly the case
with Superman and other people to way. He will take
away people's babies, he'll torture ex girlfriends, the works. Anybody

(01:12:12):
steps out of line, even because you know they they
dumped him, he'll throw him in jail, which shows you
what an awful person this man is.

Speaker 2 (01:12:22):
So are you gonna be President of the United States?

Speaker 4 (01:12:24):
Who know exactly you disagree with me? You disappear so yeah,
any references to the forty seventh President of the United States,
I guess might be just coincidental, but great, great job.

Speaker 2 (01:12:38):
It's you know, it's either like you know in South
America prison or a pocket universe you know what a chever.

Speaker 4 (01:12:46):
I could kind of see that too, so yes, definitely.

Speaker 2 (01:12:51):
The universe Alcatraz.

Speaker 4 (01:12:53):
M there you go. So I was like, I can
see the parallels here.

Speaker 3 (01:12:58):
Since you guys mentioned it, what did you think of
pocket Alcatraz? There was like hundreds, if not thousands of
cells with who knows what in them? Do you think
there were other meta humans just political prisoners, because he
made that comment that we had meta and political but
you only saw an ex girlfriend, some schmuck or two

(01:13:19):
ex girlfriends really and some schmuck and or Superman and
like one of the person. Do you think who do
you think else would potentially be in there or could
be in there?

Speaker 2 (01:13:28):
That's quite anybody, really.

Speaker 4 (01:13:32):
I wonder where we'll find out.

Speaker 3 (01:13:34):
Well, they say there's all these meta humans in that
model and the crazy scroller in the beginning, but you
only see the four of them. So unless all the
other meta humans are I don't know, taking a snack
break at the same time, where are they?

Speaker 2 (01:13:48):
You know? Where is?

Speaker 4 (01:13:49):
Well?

Speaker 2 (01:13:49):
They are in other cities. I mean that man's a
Gotham so.

Speaker 3 (01:13:53):
Do you know what I mean? Crazy?

Speaker 2 (01:13:55):
Right?

Speaker 3 (01:13:56):
The imp the interdimensional impute should have had more than
just the just as Goober's.

Speaker 4 (01:14:01):
It was very parallel I found to what the Collector
in the MCU once again, James Gunn having all these
various creatures in, you know, behind glass. So just like those,
you wonder whether eventually they will present themselves in some
formal shape, you know, just like when you know Howard
think of Howard the Duck for example, when it comes
to being a prison in the Collector's collection, No pun intend,

(01:14:21):
but it'll be interested to see whether they eventually some
of these other metahumans that you mentioned Keith will be
introduced in further movies because they got out from from
Lex's prison. But it's a it's a good question.

Speaker 2 (01:14:33):
You could say, maybe see something like Mattallo or right,
you know, the more second tier Superman villains, right, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:14:41):
I'm hoping for Mattello, by the way, one of those
characters we never see.

Speaker 4 (01:14:45):
Definitely want to see the man with the Cryptonite heart.
So that's something I definitely forward to. But I guess
the possibilities are endless, So moving on from here, before
we get to it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:54):
Before before we move on, I just want to say,
give the movie points for Otis, you know, like Luther's
henchman Otis. They gave him the last name of Berg,
which I think is hilarious. So points to the homage
to the first Superman movie, sorrying Christopher Reeve from nineteen
seventy eight. Otis Berg, get it, Otis fer.

Speaker 3 (01:15:17):
I just watched that.

Speaker 2 (01:15:17):
It's a little any bitty place.

Speaker 3 (01:15:20):
It's a dyna little place. I just, hey, you get
a place she gets to please? Why can't I have one? Fine? Fine,
I'll clean it off.

Speaker 2 (01:15:27):
Well, I am disappointed that we didn't get a miss
test maker.

Speaker 3 (01:15:31):
That would be great.

Speaker 4 (01:15:32):
We did get on to see the selfie making girlfriend
on the side who had to end up being forced
to good which was which was was a positive, I suppose.

Speaker 2 (01:15:41):
But the power of Jimmy Olsen's junk.

Speaker 4 (01:15:43):
Okay, that's right, I guess. So So to piggyback off
what Charlie said, did either of you have anything else
you guys would like to mention the too mentioned about
this movie that we didn't necessarily talk about before we
get to ratings, Can.

Speaker 3 (01:15:57):
I bring up the engineer for like a split second,
because that's why. Sure, as long as she's been in
the movie. What did you think of the Engineer guys,
I like, it's like a love hate like I liked it.
I wanted to see more. But at the same time,
I was like, I was a.

Speaker 2 (01:16:11):
Little disappointed because I'm a fan of the Authority and
the character that the character comes from the Authority TV
or comic book series that was a released rumored at
one point to be a DCU film. Still not sure
what the what the status of that is. But you
know that she's not a villain in the comics, so

(01:16:31):
it's a little bit different. I get. I get the
point that, Okay, he needed a character like that, so
God used that character and just gave her villain spin.
Perhaps she'll be redeemed at some point if they ever
do the Authority and in the DCU. But but as
for right now, I thought that, I mean, I thought

(01:16:53):
it was you know that she had she obviously has
very interesting abilities. But I did I did enjoy her
get clocked by Crypto in the Fortress. That was kind
of funny.

Speaker 3 (01:17:04):
That was pretty good.

Speaker 2 (01:17:05):
But she got by.

Speaker 3 (01:17:06):
Crypto, she got knocked out by a dog.

Speaker 2 (01:17:09):
She got fed up by the pop a dog of steel,
Thank you very the dog.

Speaker 3 (01:17:12):
The dog of steel.

Speaker 4 (01:17:15):
I tend to agree. I mean, I do hope this
character gets redeemed to a certain extent, because she very
much came across for the most part as almost been
very much being a Luther fangirl, as in buying his
mission statement one hundred percent, which was why then she
went and had the modifications that she had done to
her body and giving herself these powers because she bought

(01:17:36):
Lex's idea hook line and sinker. So hopefully that idealism
will eventually crumble and she may then, you know, turn
sides and we might get something akin to the authority
if every we we go down that line. But I
thought it was an interesting character not to mention. I
think then plays into the whole concept of we as
we talked about earlier during the course of this review,

(01:17:57):
the doctored message from Superman's parents and and how that
will you know, when eventually that will be changed, will
be revealed that she was tinkering around with it, and
it wasn't exactly what what what's what what Jurell and
Nara were saying. So I thought was it was a
nice introduction, and once again I hope we get more

(01:18:19):
of her, and hope she shall turn she'll turn coat
and and go to go the side of goods. But
it remains to be seen. Keith, did you want to
want to add anything? Since you posed the question, were
you happy with the character?

Speaker 3 (01:18:32):
I was with Charles. I knew her from the Authority,
and I was like, well, this might be somebody different. No,
it's the same character. So I hope we have the redemption,
even if it's she becomes part of that group and
it's I don't want to say, like a suicide squad esque,
but she does it because probably exactly. Yeah, it's more
like if.

Speaker 2 (01:18:50):
You're familiar to Elite from the comics.

Speaker 3 (01:18:52):
Which is another Oh my god, I hope they do
the Elite team too, But that would be another good
character or team to start with, because they they do
bad things, but they're trying to do it for the
right reason, and then Superman has to kick the crap
out of them too.

Speaker 2 (01:19:06):
There's an ideological difference there. Yeah, yeah, right, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:19:09):
Well they could do that and then go into the
Authority because that would be an interesting kind of lead
and then the Authority.

Speaker 4 (01:19:18):
That could be an idea and I would also so
I guess we applaud Marie Gavilla de Failla for her
great portray the end of She's.

Speaker 2 (01:19:27):
A good She's a solid actress. I loved her on
Deadly Class. If you ever saw that series, which is
based on an image comics series.

Speaker 4 (01:19:34):
Oh no, I have not seen that one.

Speaker 2 (01:19:36):
Yeah, check out Deadly Class. It's only one season, but
it has a fantastic eighty soundtrack throughout the entire season.

Speaker 4 (01:19:43):
I definitely, I guess then we definitely will put that
on our list and that could definitely play into recommendations
here shortly so getting.

Speaker 2 (01:19:49):
The Wang from the from the Doctor Strange Movies is
in it, so Benedict Wang, so we're definitely worth her.

Speaker 3 (01:19:56):
Look about. Yeah, I've watched that one forever.

Speaker 2 (01:19:59):
It was on STI Fi. You're in the States for
a little bit for one season, but you know, sci
fi being sci fi, So exactly what do you make
of the Peacemaker cameo?

Speaker 5 (01:20:10):
Guys, It's always fun to see to see to see
mister Sina there and nice.

Speaker 4 (01:20:18):
I think connective tissue more than anything else. That's that
was my take.

Speaker 2 (01:20:22):
Of course, he's on a conservative talk show, right of course.

Speaker 3 (01:20:25):
Yeah. Well, and the Hawk Girl and Green Lantern is
supposed to be in the first couple episodes of the
new season, so it kind of I said, in full.

Speaker 2 (01:20:35):
Circle along with Maxwell Lord.

Speaker 4 (01:20:37):
Yeah, and of course it's James brother playing Maxwell Lord of.

Speaker 3 (01:20:42):
Course yeah, which I chuckled that. By the way, that
was another one of those characters, like, hey, I know
him exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:20:48):
It's like, Sean, do you want to play Max World? Sure, bro,
let's do this.

Speaker 3 (01:20:52):
So what do you do it for the next ten minutes.
I'll just walk across the screen. We'll be fine.

Speaker 4 (01:20:57):
It's well, it's a family affair. I guess you know.
We're clearly James and Shaw and I love working together
as we have seen. So getting thus to ratings, gentlemen,
child starting with you, what do you give Man out
of ten?

Speaker 2 (01:21:12):
Yeah, Like I said, this movie has flaws. I recognize
that it's not a perfect movie. I think I overall,
I think I enjoy Superman nineteen seventy eight more than this.
Superman nineteen seventy has always been one of my all
time favorite movies. But I think this was a solid
introduction to the DCU. This movie had a lot of

(01:21:35):
things to establish, and I think by and large it did.
So I'm gonna give this eight and a half out
of ten, corrupted farewell messages from Krypton.

Speaker 4 (01:21:47):
Very nice and miss the bliss. How about you?

Speaker 2 (01:21:51):
I see.

Speaker 3 (01:21:52):
Unfortunately, I'm not going to be as generous as mister Charles.
Here is me personally, this is your face. I'm not
gonna hold back. I promise, I swear I'm with you.
Though I love the original Superman. I literally just watched
it the other night because I love it so much
on rewatching the original four so me personally, it could

(01:22:15):
have been better. So I'm gonna have to give it
a seven out of ten. I just there was a
lot of blacking and the fact that they gave so
much crap to the Snyder Superman, and then you kind
of have the extreme opposite where he's just a little
two over the top. I don't know, there needs to
be a little happy medium. So seven out of ten.

Speaker 4 (01:22:36):
For me, not bad the tool and I'm gonna be
with Charles on this one. I'm gonna give it eight
in a half out of ten as well. I docked
points I supposed fors we talked about earlier, the accents
when it came to the Kents, which I thought was
not the best choice, and a couple of other things
which I which didn't particularly well with me.

Speaker 2 (01:22:54):
But Supergirl the depiction of Supergirl exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:22:58):
But other than that, I think it's solid film. So
definitely great introduction to the DCU, at least when it
comes to movies. So eight and a half out of
ten for me. So getting thus to recommendations, granted we
have thrown a few around during the course of this podcast,
but Keith, starting with you, what would you like to
recommend this week to folks who indeed enjoyed this today's movie?

Speaker 3 (01:23:20):
I think I may have shown my hand a little,
but the original Superman one through four, three's a little
sus but you know, it is.

Speaker 2 (01:23:28):
What definitely makes us we have fun making fun of
it and drunk cinema.

Speaker 3 (01:23:32):
I don't doubt that even if you had to pick one,
that would one hundred percent have been the one I'd
make fun of. So but in terms of the Superman
Lex dynamic, I appreciated that one more. I'd even go
and do not shoot me, but I'd go check out
the original Smallville because again that's another good Clark and

(01:23:52):
Lex dynamic. Is it perfect? No, But concidering how long
was on the air, you got to see it grow
and evolve, and I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (01:24:00):
Again and much better. Toot Kent's Yeah Mom podcast.

Speaker 3 (01:24:03):
One hundred percent, Oh yeah, compared to this movie one
hundred percent. You can't get You can't fault the.

Speaker 4 (01:24:08):
Duke Boys, not at all. And that Charles. You threw
a few recommendations, yes, me and Keith Orte. Did you
have anything else you would like to recommend, diving comic
book form or you know, the older movie TV shows
that you like to recommend.

Speaker 2 (01:24:22):
Of course, so so obviously, first and foremost, I'm gonna
recommend All Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Whitely,
which was, like I said, the one of the templates
for this film, I think it's a it's a it's
it came out about about fifteen years ago, but it's

(01:24:44):
it's something that Grant Morrison kind of going back to
the Silver Age and giving it a more modern spin
in the type of stories that it told, you know,
the kind of very heavy sci fi just you know,
logic be damn, just just embracing the potential of comics.

(01:25:06):
And I definitely see elements of where Gunn drew, especially
for his depiction of Lex Luthor from this series, So
I think that that's something that if nothing else, it's
a fantastic series. It's only twelve issues long, and it
tells a solid story from beginning to end, and I

(01:25:31):
highly recommend it. Just check it out. You'll you'll definitely
you'll definitely think before it, I think, because it's just
it's it's just it's so good and so entertaining, and
it's Grant Morrison at his most Grant Morrison. So check
it out. Also, I will recommend Superman for All Seasons
by Jeff Leb and Tim the late Tim Sayle. This

(01:25:54):
is mostly focusing a lot on Superman growing up Smallville
and so there's a lot of that and then obviously
moving to Metropolis. So there's elements that I think are
also in Superman twenty twenty five, So definitely check that out.
And then my third and final recommendation, I will recommend

(01:26:16):
Superman and Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow by
Alan Moore and Kurt Swan, which essentially was the last
story told right before DC entered into Crisis on Infinite Earth.
So there last story of the pre crisis Superman from
nineteen eighty five, and it's a classic story done in

(01:26:40):
two issues, but it's something that I think because of
the kind of, like I said, the kind of pre
crisis Silver Age influence of this movie, I think would
fit very well if you're looking for something along the
tone of this film.

Speaker 4 (01:26:58):
Saw the recommendation from both of you have got the
comics covered and other stuff for sure, I'm going to
throw in I think if you if you haven't seen it,
I'd kind be surprised if you hadn't, But you never know,
to see more of Jim's Gunn's work, you know, to
get an idea of the as I said, the whole
team dynamic. Definitely, of course go back and check out
the three Guides of the Galaxy films. I thoroughly enjoyed

(01:27:19):
those and I could definitely see a lot of elements
which will likely be pouring into this particular team, the
so currently Justice Gang. So I would recommend those added
of course to you if you've not seen it, and
I thoroughly recommend it is Creature Commandos, which Charles and
I had a blast discussing when it came to the
fandom zone, So definitely check out I you haven't seen that.

(01:27:40):
You also will find some characters that you also see
in this in this particular film, so I think it's
definitely worth your while. So getting to a happiness and
darkness fan mail. We have a few this week, Keith,
starting off with Dave Proctor, who writes in about our
moved from last week, which was The Brothers Grim and
Dave sin Hey Fellers, another movie with big stars that

(01:28:03):
I've never seen. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Not as good as I hoped, but not horrible. Five
point eighthit, or so I'd say, but there were some
clever bits that that could have pulled it up. However,
visuals need to be paired with writing swing and a
miss love Matt Damon and miss Heath Ledger. So do
we too bad? This isn't a treasured archive, march On, Fellas,

(01:28:27):
keep the distractions coming so I can stay distracted as
democracy burns around us. And that is the problem of
the whole world. Unfortunate Dave, and thank you so much
for writing in. I'm glad that we could introduce you
to a movie you hadn't seen. And up next, talking
about today's movie, we have mister Aaron Case writing in,
and I love his subject line, which is the one

(01:28:47):
thing that liberals and conservatives can finally agree on is
that Lex Luthor sucks. So Aaron writes in Hey d J.
Nick Keith, and Charles hey erin Hey Aaron stop. I
will start by saying that I've never really been a
fan of Superman, sorry, Charles, as I find him to

(01:29:07):
be a rather boring superhero. But I also maintain that
Superman the movie remains the gold standard for superhero movies.
Unfortunate unfortunately, Superman has had a spotty run of movies
over the years. So with those two things in mind,
I was quite skeptical of this newest movie. All in all,
I thought it was fine. It's not going to end

(01:29:29):
up as one of my favorite movies, but I feel
like we have finally gotten a new story that taps
back into the fun of the original two. Something I'm
enjoying lately is that we're getting new movies that skip
the origin stories. There you go and trust the audience
knows the basics of the character.

Speaker 2 (01:29:46):
Spider manie Wikipedia.

Speaker 4 (01:29:49):
Exactly spider Man and Batman received this treatment, and now
so has Superman. Giving us a simple text summary and
then jumping straight into the story. Like our central three
actors corn sweat fins into the red underwear quite well,
but I found him to be a much Betterware.

Speaker 2 (01:30:08):
It's outerwear, not underwear by definition, it's outerwear he's wearing
on the outside.

Speaker 3 (01:30:15):
It's ruse instead of under rules.

Speaker 4 (01:30:17):
I guess fair point, but I found him to be
a much better Clark Kent than Superman Brosnahan is charming
as Lois Lane, and I appreciate her doing actual journalism
as the character, as did the three of Us. That's
something I always felt Kidder's iteration lacked. Holt works as Luther,
but I still feel like something is missing. As for

(01:30:39):
the Justice Gang, I'm not impressed. Fillian doesn't feel like Gardner,
and I think that has more to do with his dialogue. However,
I may be a little biased because I'm not a
huge fan of Gardner. I much prefer the other three Lanterns.
Mersid as Hawk Girl is such a nothing role for
an actress whose star is on the rise. Coming across

(01:31:00):
as a late addition, just so the Gang has three members.
Gathiji is the best of the butt of the match,
but every time he flies around in his chair it
just looks goofy. The main part of the movie I'd
like to highlight is the interview between Lewis and Clark.
Superman is always known to do the right thing, but
where rarely do we see inside his logic, and having

(01:31:20):
Lane put his actions under scrutiny forces him to vocalize
his thoughts and actions. Listening to him state black and
white facts about how he literally tackles each situation, while
Lois points out all the gray airs is a fantastic
piece of writing. Reed agree. I won't say my faith
is completely restored for these's movie universe, but I'm more

(01:31:43):
optimistic for when characters I truly care about return to
the big screen take care erin Well, thank you for
that great email there, erin very insightful and very detailed.
We always appreciate you writing in of course, so that
really dear listenas if you want to be like the
wonderful erin Case and Dave Procter and share your thoughts

(01:32:04):
on the movies we discussed here, you can of course
shoot those emails to Happiness and Darkness How at gmail
dot com. Once again, Happiness and Darkness How at gmail
dot com. I feel free, of course to follow us
on our social media on Facebook, where confinances happiness and
Darkness on x formerly Twitter Awake confinces high Darkness pod

(01:32:24):
And of course if you're listening to us on such
platforms as Spotify or podcasts, be sure to rate and
review us, as that keeps that algorithm stimulated and of
course allows our little show to reach more like minded
ears like yours. Of course, be sure to spread the
good word about this podcast, and a lot of Keith's
coworkers have been doing so. So shout out to Keith's
coworkers for listening. We really appreciate that, and of course

(01:32:47):
thank future. Thank you to those who or should say current,
thank to those who have done so in the future,
thank you to those who will rate us. And speaking
of great things, Charles, when you're not here, gracing us
with your presence in that happiness and office back the
folks find you on this bost intuebs.

Speaker 2 (01:33:05):
I thought you were talking about great things. Oh, anyway
you can find me of course, yeah, exactly. First, I
want to mention that if you enjoyed DC comics, I've
written a couple of them in the past couple of years.
I recently wrote a story for the DC Horror anthology.

(01:33:29):
D you know the DC's Oh, I can't believe I'm
blinking on this.

Speaker 3 (01:33:35):
It's not like you wrote it or anything.

Speaker 2 (01:33:36):
It's not like I wrote it or anything exactly. So geez,
I should have had I should have wrote this down.
I should have been more prepared. I'm getting old. But
these terrorists through time where I had a lot of
fun writing that story and it was a JSA story
for that and turned out pretty well. Had art by
Tom Mandrake. So definitely encourage you to check that out.
That was a couple of years ago, and then you

(01:33:59):
can find that on Comixology if you want to download
that as a you know, as a as an E
comic or perhaps a PDF. I don't know if you
can actually download as a PDF on on Comicxology, but
I know that you can definitely get in in in
E format. Also recently this past year, I wrote for
the DC's uh, the what's another one of blanking getting old?

Speaker 4 (01:34:26):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:34:26):
Yeah, Alex and the City exactly. Thank you, Nick, I'm
kidding old. It's been a it's been a rough week,
but yeah, I had that. That was a lot of fun.
I did the Titans story for that one, and I
had a lot of fun with that I got to
introduce a Kaiju to the DC universe, So that was
fun and great art by Sarajha Cuna in that one.
So if you enjoyed Titans, UH, you know the characters

(01:34:49):
the Flash, night Wing, Tempest and UH and Arsenal, definitely
check that out and UH also the podcast they do,
including the Phantom Zone podcast to do with DJ Nick,
where we talk all things comic book TV related, not
like comic book movies. Over here, we do comic book
TV shows And right now we're having a lot of

(01:35:10):
fun discussing Sandman season two and we'll be doing that
for several weeks until Peacemaker starts up and we'll be
discussing Peacemaker season two. So come check us out over there.
We have a lot of fun and Nick is very
patient with me, so Chef definitely we have a lot
of fun and I hope you guys enjoy it and

(01:35:32):
check it out. Also, next up everywhere the Doctor Who
podcasts that do with Jesse Jackson, my partner in time
and also mutual friend of DJ Nick, where we discuss
all things Doctor Who, Torchwood, Sergei and Adventures, Big Finished
Audism War, and last but certainly not least Drunk Cinema
that I do with Zayan Sprouse, Nick's co host on

(01:35:54):
Gold Standard, where we watch our favorite movies, have our
favorite beverages. We just recently got to watch Superman three,
like I said, and we got to make a lot
of fun on that movie. Coming up in our next episode,
we're gonna be watching Office Space, which kind of has
a connection to Superman three, which is why we did

(01:36:16):
Superman three first. If you're familiar with both films, so
come check us out on Drunk Cinema and you can
share your feedback if you you know, on Drug Cinema
podcast at gmail dot com. If you want to share
your thoughts about these movies, we'd love to hear it.

Speaker 4 (01:36:31):
Fantastic something.

Speaker 2 (01:36:32):
What about you, Nick.

Speaker 4 (01:36:35):
Well Charles when it comes to me, you can find
me my day job hosting the radio show Whiskey and Cigarettes,
where we play the very best and nothing but the
best of country music for you guys from Malabama to
Zach Brown. For the information about that you can be
is our website which is Whiskey and Cigarettes Show dot com.
Podcast Wise, as the Childs was alluding to myself, Rachel

(01:36:57):
friend Zan Sprousekos be found on gold st and of
the Oscars podcast, where we have reviewed all the Best
Picture winning movies in chronological order, and now as we
wait for the ninety eighth Best Picture to reveal itself,
where of reviewing movies that we have chosen and we
will have new and returning guest co hosts bring their
favorite movies to the Gold Standard Theater. Keith recently brought his,
which was Skycaptain the World of Tomorrow. They had the

(01:37:18):
great time, definitely so. And the Charles will soon be
joining us again bring his favorite movie, one of his
favorite movies. I won't review the identity of that movie
just yet, just want to keep it a little bit
special for you. But it is good. It's going to
be excellent. I'm likely looking forward to it. So there
is that. But currently, speaking of guest co hosts coming up,

(01:37:38):
as of this week, Nieka, the YouTuber content creator is
going to be joining us making her debut at the
Gold Standard Theater and the movie that she is selected
is Into State sixty, which is the debut directed movie
from Bob Gaale, who you probably will know from such
things as Back to the Future, which of course he
co wrote when it came to that, so we definitly
look forward to discussing that some fantastic the actors. Michael J.

(01:38:01):
Fox makes the appearance, no surprise, Chase Floyd makes the appearance.
You have James Marsden, you have tons of Amy Joe
Johnson the Pink Ranger of course, and tons of other
actors bring their their A game to it. So I'm
gonna think make for a great discussion. And of course,
as Childs was mentioning as well, the fandom zone where
we are discussing the second season of Sandman and thoroughly

(01:38:22):
enjoying that, and mister Bliss, when you're not here discussing
superhero movies with myself were can folks find you on
the interwebs? I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:38:31):
Apparently I slack off. I need like seventeen more podcasts compared.

Speaker 4 (01:38:34):
To you guys.

Speaker 3 (01:38:36):
But you know what, I'm here occasional. I know clearly,
I just don't need to sleep. I'm gonna start starting
next week. I'm gonna have a podcast about breathing, and
then a week after that it's going to be about
blinking too many times in one hour, and then that
probably and it's can be another one of like asmrs,
but no, all kidding aside what I'm not doing any
of that. You can occasionally find me on Gold Standard,

(01:38:58):
as you mentioned, Nick, I've also been on a handful
of episodes of Star Trek, the Undiscovered podcast with our
mutual friend Greg Vorabb and those rowdy guys. What was
I on? What was some of the other ones I
was on last year? The Hour of Comics is upon Us.
I made my guest appearance, my annual guest appearance. There.
That's all, Like I go on shockingly again, I need

(01:39:20):
like seven more podcasts, So next week stay tuned for
the fourteen new podcasts I'm rolling out.

Speaker 4 (01:39:26):
I will definitely subscribe and listen to Keith Bliss and
the Art of Breathing. I would definitely listen to that
was That's genius right back Keith.

Speaker 2 (01:39:36):
Episode one, Heavy Breathing all.

Speaker 3 (01:39:39):
Right, Breathing Fast Episode two.

Speaker 4 (01:39:43):
There you go, It's the podcast you didn't know you
need it, but you can't do without. So I'm not
be looking forward to that. Speelings to come on this
show next time. As we prep for the upcoming Fantastic
four First Steps film, we will be doing a rewatch
of another fantastic full film, and that will be of
the Silver Surfer, the two thousand and seven Tim story film,

(01:40:04):
which I had previously reviewed way back when, but Keith
did not get the chance to say his give his
two cents about it. So we are going to be
doing that as preparation for what all get with the
upcoming twenty five That makes perfect sense exactly, and that
was actually Keith's brainchild, So you have Keith to thank
for that, so I think very clever on his part.
So speaking of which, first off, Charles, thank you so

(01:40:26):
much for joining us. It was a pleasure having you
on the show. And of course, anytime you want to
return you to discuss future DCU movies or anything else,
the door is always open. And I think I can
speak for Keith as well when I say that.

Speaker 2 (01:40:39):
Well, thank you guys. I definitely appreciate it. Thanks for
letting me come in and ruin your podcast.

Speaker 3 (01:40:43):
I had a lot of fun ruined. I do a
good enough job without it.

Speaker 2 (01:40:47):
So it's always fun. I got to talk with Keith again,
and obviously I love I always enjoyed talking with you, Nick,
so this is a blast, and to be back here
for episode three hundred it's awesome and I hope everybody
can enjoyed our discussion today.

Speaker 4 (01:41:02):
I definitely hope so too, So Keith. Anything else you
would like to add in an upcoming movie or anything
else before we sign off.

Speaker 3 (01:41:09):
Fans, don't worry, this is not a firch wasp for me.
I think I actually owned the movie, so this is
not gonna be a ooh I've never seen this before.
And Charles, it's a pleasure. As always, I look forward
to your vast amount of DC information, so it's always
fun to chat up movies with you.

Speaker 4 (01:41:27):
Thank you a mentor that so folks, of course, thanks
to Always Decisions supporting us. We will see you next
time with Fantastic four Rise of the Silver Surfer. Until then,
thank you so much for the privilege of your time.
Stay super Chow.

Speaker 2 (01:41:42):
Mommy barely

Speaker 4 (01:42:06):
Think

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