SDCC 2019!!! Continuing Coverage….

Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

As this year’s San Diego Comic-Con continues, breaking news, trailers, announcements, and other cool reveals keep on blowing minds of fans everywhere! But it can be a pain in the ass trying to find all the SDCC news. So keep it HERE at World’s Best Media, where you can find all of the up to the minuet info, you want the most! We’ll be updating this page all weekend with the breaking news and content that can’t be missed from SDCC 2019!

WOW. We got some killer stuff today! At the Marvel Studios panel, Kevin Feige did not disappoint. He rolled out the next 2 years of Marvel’s PHASE 4 slate, which will consist of 10 projects. They include both theatrical releases and projects to be released on Disney +. Plus, Feige offers up some tantalizing hints on MCU projects coming after the slate of shows and films. It’s all pretty exciting, so I’m going to break it down for you right here…

MARVEL STUDIOS PHASE 4 (The Next 2 Years)

The EternalsRelease date 11/6/20

Dir. – Chloe Zhao

Staring – Angelina Jolie as Thena , Richard Madden as Ikaris. The cast also includes Selma Hayek.

The story of the film, broadly speaking, follows The Eternals, a race of aliens imbued with power and immortality by The Celestials (some of the most powerful beings in the existence of The Marvel Universe). The Eternals are charged with protecting Earth and humanity from The Deviants, an evil, monstrous mirror race of The Eternals. To use a poor analogy. Think of The Eternals and Angels and The Deviants as Demons.

The Flacon and The Winter Soldier Release Date – Fall 2020 on Disney +

Starring – Anthony Makie as The Falcon/Captain America, Sebastian Stan as The Winter Soldier, and Daniel Bruhl returning as Baron Helmut Zemo ( This time he WILL be getting the classic Baron Zemo mask!)

As expected, this series will see Anthony Mackie don his really cool Captain America uniform which is a combination of The Falcon in Captain America’s classic look. So it seems like this series will be about Sam Wilson adjusting to this great weight on his shoulders and Bucky Barnes being with him along the way, like he was with Steve Rogers. All the while having to deal with Baron Zemo not much more than that is known at this time. But I can’t wait for this one, I think it’s going to be really cool.

Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings – Release Date 2/12/2021

Dir. Denton Daniel Cretton

Starring – Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Tony Leung as The REAL Mandarin

Not much is know about the story at this time. Shang-Chi is the greatest martial artist in the world. He’s a hero and adventurer. In the comics his father was the criminal mastermind Fu Manchu. I can see for racial reasons why Marvel wouldn’t want to use that character. So I strongly suspect that The Mandarin will be Shang-Chi’s father in this movie. A lot of the character drama from Shang-Chi’s story comes from the pain he feels being a hero who wants to do the right thing, when his father is one of the greatest villains in the world. Despite the fact that The Mandarin was smoke and mirrors in Iron Man 3, it’s been strongly suggested that a “real” Mandarin is out there. For several years, Marvel would release fun short films as an extra feature on the Blu-Rays for their movies. The last one Marvel produced was on the Blu-Ray for Thor: The Dark World and called “All Hail The King”. In that short film, it’s revealed that Aldrich Killian co-opted much of his bullshit Mandarin story from some real sources and it turns out that The Mandarin is a very real, very dangerous guy, who is very pissed that his name had been dragged through the mud in Iron Man 3. The film ends with one of The TRUE Mandarin’s disciples, breaking Trevor Slattery (played by Ben Kingsley) out of prison, the actor who played the fake Mandarin for Aldrich Killian, so he can face justice at the hands of the real Mandarin. So, we’ve known for a while that the real Mandarin was out there and it was only a matter of time before we see him somewhere in The MCU. This is the perfect project to use him in. It’s also worth pointing out that the terrorist group who originally kidnapped Tony Stark in the very first Iron Man movie was called The Ten Rings.

WandaVision – Release Date Spring 2021 on Disney +

Starring – Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, Paul Bettany as The Vision, Teyonah Paris as adult Monica Rambeau (the daughter of Carol’s best friend in Captain Marvel)

For some reason people seem to be down on this project, but I think it has the potential to be something special. Kevin Feige he himself has said that this series is very strange. One of the more interesting things about Wanda maxim off is her exponentially growing power and her increased mental stability. Panel confirmed that this series takes place after endgame. Which makes me wonder, have a wonders abilities progressed to the point where she can resurrect vision, as she eventually has the power to do in the comics at great cost.

LOKI – Release Date Spring 2021 Disney +

Starring – Tom Hiddleston as Loki

As we saw in endgame, low-key managed to get away with the space stone. Apparently this show will be a trip through history and Loki is very long life. I’ve heard it described is almost something like quantum leap. It appears that it will involve low-key mixing it up at important historical events with famous historical figures. Which sounds like a whole Lotta fucking fun. I am in.

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness – Release Date 5/7/2021

Dir. Scott Derrickson

Starring – Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange and Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff

OK, this is the movie I’ve been fucking waiting for. According to director Scott Derrickson, this will be Marvel’s first “scary movie“. Which is about as close as you can get to saying you’re going to do a horror movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you don’t think that’s awesome, there’s something fucking wrong with you. Doctor Strange was a great origin movie and in Infinity War and Endgame, we got to see a lot of cool shit from Doctor Strange and what he’s capable of. I can’t wait to see how his powers have progressed. It’s important to note that this director knows how to do a really creepy, disquieting, fucked up movie. Hopefully Marvel will let him embrace that. It’s also really interesting to see Scarlet Witch in this movie, though not completely surprising, because in the comics it’s been suggested multiple times that her powers are magic-based. Maybe she will turn to Doctor Strange after something that happened in WandaVision? Who knows. But I can’t wait for this one! The more Doctor Strange the better!

Hawkeye– Release Date Fall 2021 on Disney +

Starring – Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye

This looks like it may be more of a limited series than some of the other shows on Disney +, but it will apparently focus on Clint Barton training a new protégé, a girl named Kate Bishop, making her first MCU appearance. In the comic books, after years of training with Clint Barton and other superheroes, Kate is viewed more as a hero in her own right, rather than simply being Clint’s sidekick. In fact, both Cling and Kate both go by. I know it can be confusing, but hey that’s those crazy comics for, ya! The series will also explore Clint’s time as Ronin in the wake of Thanos’ decimation. This show looks like it’s heavily borrowing from the fantastic Hawkeye comic book run by writer Matt Fraction and Artist David Aja.

Thor: Love and Thunder – Release Date 11/5/2021

Dir. Taika Waititi

Starrring – Chris Hemsworth as Thor/Odinson, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster/Thor

So I love the direction they’re going in with this new movie. First of all, I was thrilled another Thor film was being made, and they were bringing back the same director: Taika Waititi, who gave us the fantastic Thor: Ragnarok. But it also seems like the story will be largely taking it’s cues from the recent and ongoing Thor comic book run by writer Jason Aaron. Which is a good thing, because it’s probably one of the best Thor stories that I’ve ever read.

In that story, due to a complicated series of events, Thor is no longer worthy of wielding his mighty hammer; Mijonir. Meanwhile, Jane Foster has been fighting her own battles, against the cancer that has ravaged her body. In this story, a Parliament of World’s is formed. Like a U.N. for The Ten Realms, set up to keep the peace throughout the realms and it’s people. Jane is the representative from Midgard, so even though she and Thor are no longer dating, she spends quite a bit of time in new Asgard and has made some wonderful new friends in the process. The Parliament meets on New Asgard (a shadow of Asgard’s glory days) which resides on Earth’s Moon. As a sidenote, at this point Asgard has taken up residence on an area near what they called the “Blue Area” of the moon. It’s the only place on the moon that perfectly simulates Earth’s pressure, gravity, temperature , and most importantly, you can breathe there.

So, while on a walk through the blue area of the moon, contemplating her depressing situation, Jane Foster comes across Mijonir and attempts to lift Thor’s legendary hammer (after Thor has spent months attempting to lift it unsuccessfully) and as the inscription says, “whosoever holds this hammer, should they be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor“ At which point Jane’s shocked to see herself turned into a beautiful, god-like, female version of Thor. She is unrecognizable as Jane Foster. Now I can already hear some of the assholes on the Internet complaining that a woman will be, in a way, playing Thor. First of all, in the comics, this is one of the best Thor stories they have done in years. A great story is simply a great story. Also, this isn’t just a story about Jane Foster. It’s also is a very profound story about Asgard and Thor himself.

So for you idiots thinking Thor is going to get kicked to the wayside because of some bullshit liberal agenda…relax. The movies going to be great. I am really thrilled to see Marvel is taking some interesting chances with their with their projects. I have a few guesses, but I can’t wait to see who the villain will be in this movie. Gorr The God Butcher, perhaps? We can only hope!

Black Widow – Release Date 5/1/2020

Dir. Cate Shortland

Starring – Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Rachel Weiss and David Harbour appearing in unknown rolls

This movie will be a prequel taking place before Captain America: Civil War. It will feature such classic Marvel bad guys as Taskmaster, who I’m very excited to see. Natasha also faces off against the “evil Black Widow”, Yelena, another product of The Red Room Program. This woman is Natasha if Hawkeye never showed her a better way to live and became here friend. Yelena is a vicious, manipulative killer, a mirror image of what Natasha could have become. This will be the next Marvel movie we have to look forward to. I think this is a long time coming. Black Widow is more than capable of carrying her own film. It will be really cool to see how they incorporate this into some other events in a MCU history.

Before things wrapped up, Kevin Feige had one more surprise for the crowd. After listing all of these projects, he brought out, the fantastic actor, Mahershala Ali, and announced Ali will be playing Blade in an upcoming movie, introduce The Day Walker to the MCU. No release date has been announced . That is pretty fucking cool nonetheless. Ali is a fantastic actor. He’s perfect for this role. There have been rumblings of Blade in the MCU for a few years now ( even some suggesting Wesley Snipes would return ) so it’s going to be really exciting to see what they do with the character.

Feige wrapped things up by explaining this is what they have in production that will be hitting theatres and screens over the next 2 years. Two years is a lot shorter than any of the previous phases of the MCU, which makes me think that this is just the first half of Phase 4 and more announcements will be made along the way. However, he closed things out by saying Guardians Vol.3, Black Panther 2, Captain Marvel 2, and (FUCK YES) The Fantastic Four!!! will be coming soon after these projects. He had to drive the crowd wild by mentioning one more thing coming soon, one word:“Mutants.” So that was the Marvel Studios presentation this year. It certainly did not disappoint.

New Trailers For Movies & TV Series

Watchmen:

Westworld-Season 3:

Arrow – The Final Season

Supergirl – Season 5

The Witcher (Netflix)

The Flash Season 6

Star Trek: Picard

Supernatural: The Final Season (Chevy Impala Tribute)

OTHER NEWS

  • DC Universe announced that their series Young Justice will officially be back for a fourth season.

More to comes as it becomes available…

Thanks for reading!

-Paul

FIRST LOOK: The King’s Man


Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

I fucking love Kingsman: The Secret Service. In fact, I love pretty much anything filmmaker Mathew Vaughn has directed. Layer Cake, Stardust, X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass, Kingsman: The Secret Service, that’s a pretty fucking great resume. Sure, Kingsman: The Golden Circle wasn’t nearly as good as it’s precession, but despite some major flaws, I still like the movie.

For some reason, I had no idea that a third Kingsman movie was even in the cards. I’m happy to see the series back on the big screen anyway. The Kingsman films have always tried re-inject some fun and adventure into the spy genre. I’ve never been a Bond fan or Jason Bourne (the Mission: Impossible movies, on the other hand, are fucking incredible). I was already happy to see that this series is going to continue, but like many great sequels, this movie is taking the Kingsman story in a completely different direction. Starring Ralph Fiennes, it looks like the movie is about the original formation of the Kingsman organization around WWI… and it looks fucking cool as Hell. Anyway, check out the trailer below, you’ll probably agree that it looks fucking awesome:

The King’s Man directed by Mathew Vaugh hits theatres in February 2020.

Thanks for reading!

-Paul

PODCAST: World’s Best Media Presents: Paul’s True Hollywood Stories!

Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

Fame. Ain’t it a bitch? Not so long ago on a beautiful summer evening, in a New England summer island community, one young man’s dream brush with fame may have turned into a nightmare…. OR DID IT?! New information has surfaced in the case involving allegations of sexual assault by Kevin Spacey in Nantucket. What once looked like a celebrity using his status and power to take advantage of a young man, suddenly doesn’t seem so black and white. Seems you can’t trust anyone anymore. Not even drunk college guys and sleazy actors! What’s the world coming to?! I don’t have the answers, but it’s a damn interesting story! So, on this week’s episode of The World’s Best Podcast, we take a trip to Tinseltown’s seedy underbelly, in Paul’s True Hollywood Stories!

Our favorite residents of Hawkins, Indiana.

But that’s not all! We also have a deep dive review for Stranger Things Season 3 (FULL SPOILERS). On the second half of this week’s podcast we do a full breakdown of the hit Netflix series, created by The Duffer Brothers. I enjoyed the hell out of this latest barrel of weird, paranormal shit to hit Hawkins, Indiana. Hopper, Eleven, Mike, and the whole gang are back for some more fun, dipped in 80’s nostalgia. AS much as I enjoyed Season 3, Stranger Things should probably start heading towards the finish line, so it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. But so far The Duffer Bros. haven’t steered us wrong. Hopefully, they have a plan to wrap up their sci-fi/adventure series that brings the story to a satisfying conclusion and make the fans happy. If Game of Thrones has taught us anything lately, it’s that how a story ends is one of the most important parts of long form storytelling. A bad ending can retroactively hurt all the good that came before and a great ending is like the cherry on top of a fantastic story (to mix a few metaphors there). Fair warning, make sure you watch all of the new season of Stranger Things before you listen to this episode.

Listen here or subscribe on Spreaker, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and iTunes: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/18518773

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-worlds-best-podcast/id1246038441?i=1000444182925

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=62492867&autoplay=1

Thanks for listening! Enjoy!

-Paul

VIDEO: Awesome Avengers Tribute!

Check out this cool tribute video honoring Earth’s Mightiest Hero

PODCAST: Spider-Man: Far From Home Review! (SPOILERS)

Hi Everyone,

Paul here…

On this episode of The World’s Best Podcast, we review one of my most anticipated movies of the summer and the latest film to feature everyone’s favorite wallcrawler: Spider-Man: Far From Home. As the final film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 3 of films, we go over the action sequences, the villains, the friends and foes in Peter Parker’s life, and all the twists and turns along the way.

This movie has some HUGE revelations and twists, so I recommend avoiding SPOILERS at all cost before seeing this film. But after you see the movie, come on back and listen to our awesome breakdown of this kick ass superhero flick! Listen here or subscribe on Spreaker, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and ITunes:

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/18456482

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-worlds-best-podcast/id1246038441?i=1000443580959

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=62350346&autoplay=1

Thanks for listening and enjoy!

-Paul

P.S. This poster right here…

… is the ONLY official poster for the film I put up with this article. What a shitty, shitty poster. All the other art here is the work of some incredibly talented artists I found online. STEP UP YOU GAME, SONY!

Avengers: Endgame coming to Digital & Blu-Ray!

Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

Marvel has official announced the home release of the year’s biggest film Avengers: Endgame! Hitting digitally on July 3oth and Blu-Ray and 4K on August 13th. Check out the announcement video below!

I’m a complete sucker. They get me coming and going. Not only do I buy the digital copy on iTunes because I want to watch the movie again as soon as I can, but I’m also a big collector of the cool, special edition, Steelbook Blu-Rays. So I buy those when they come out too, which you can see below…

You know what? I DON’T CARE THAT I’M MARVEL’S BITCH! I LOVE IT! GIVE IT TO ME, MARVEL! ALL OVER MY FACE, KNECK, AND CHEST! I’LL TAKE ANOTHER 22 MOVIES HARD AND SAY “THANK YOU, SIR! I’LL TAKE THAT SHIT AGAIN!”!

…Oh lord… They’ve got their hooks into me bad here, folks… Who am I kidding? I wouldn’t have it any other way….

-Paul

Cool Art of Henry Cavill As DC Villain Ultraman!

Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

The Crime Syndicate: Ultraman, Owlman, Superwoman, Johnny Quick, Power Ring, Deathstorm

  The Justice League has battled a lot of cool, iconic foes over the years, but one of my favorites has to to be The Crime Syndicate. The Crime Syndicate hail from a parallel world dubbed Earth-3, where it’s occupants really subscribe to the philosophy of “survival of the fittest”. Each member of The Crime Syndicate is an evil doppelgänger of a member of the Justice League and they rule their Earth with an iron fist. So, instead of Batman, you get Owlman, instead of Wonder Woman there’s Superwoman, and instead of Superman you get Ultraman.

Ultraman is probably the biggest piece of shit of them all (actually Owlman probably takes the cake there). When he’s not bust freebasing Kryptonite to get his powers, he’s terrorizing the citizens of his planet.

  The Crime Syndicate are most prominently featured as the villains in classic Justice League stories like, JLA: Earth-2 written by Grant Morrison with art by Frank Quietly.

 As well as, Forever Evil by Geoff Johns and David Finch, which features Lex Luthor defeating Ultraman by using his addiction to Kryptonite AGAINST him. The message here: drug addiction makes you lose super villain battles. A valuable lesson for us all.

The live action DC movies may have gotten off to a rocky start, but I’m a big fan of movies like Man of Steel and even Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. I think Henry Cavill made a fantastic Superman and it’s a shame we probably won’t get to see him in the role again. Much like we won’t get to see Ben Affleck as Batman again. It would’ve been pretty cool to see these characters go up against a group of villains like The Crime Syndicate down the line had the Justice League film been any good. Sadly that movie was a big pile of shit, so we can only wonder what might’ve been. Which is why I thought it was really cool when I found two different artist renditions of Henry Cavill as Ultraman popping up online. Check it out here:

  The first piece was done by an artist who goes by the handle HouseofMat. This is the first time I’ve see HouseofMat’s work, but I thought it was pretty cool and I wanted to share it with you guys. The second piece (which is my favorite of the two) was created by Barrett Digital, you can find them on Twitter @BARRETTDIGITAL_. There are some fantastic online artists out there like BossLogic, whose work I’ve posted on the site before. So I’m always on the lookout for cool stuff like this. What do you think of his rendition of Henry Cavill as Ultraman? Is The Crime Syndicate a group of villains you’d like to see pop up in a DC movie in the future? Please let me know what you think in the comments below. As always, thanks for reading!

-Paul

P.S. The Crime Syndicate are also the main villains in the DC Animated Movie Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths. It’s a solid and entertaining entry in the DC Animated Movie library. If your a DC fan, it’s definitely worth a watch. You can buy or rent the movie on iTunes or buy the Blu-Ray on Amazon by following this link: https://www.amazon.com/Justice-League-Crisis-Earths-Blu-ray/dp/B002YOKVUE/ref=tmm_mfc_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1561600655&sr=1-2

PODCAST: July Movie & TV Preview! Stranger Things 3! Spider-Man: Far From Home! & More!


Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

   LIVE FROM RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL! …Well… No, not really… But it’s a good show anyway! On this week’s episode of The World’s Best Podcast, guest co-host Paul Sr. and I discuss the must see movies and TV series coming up next month, in our July Movie & TV Preview! We give you the scoop on Spider-Man: Far From Home, Stranger Things 3, Young Justice: Outsiders & more! Of course, along the way we take some of our usual nonsensical detours, but that’s part of the fun! 

  I also wanted to mention, as a public service announcement, that the word around the campfire is that Spider-Man: Far From Home is not only spectacular, but it also has a lot of cool surprises and twists and turns. Besides the trailer I have posted below, I’d recommend avoiding anymore trailers or clips from Spider-Man: Far From Home. From what I’ve heard, this is a movie you want to go into knowing as little as possible. Speaking of trailers, you can also check out the latest trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home, as well as Stranger Things 3 and Young Justice: Outsiders at the end of this article.

   As a little bonus for our World’s Best Media readers and subscribers, I wanted to bring your attention to a few other movies and TV shows premiering in July that we didn’t have time to go over on the podcast. First up, we have Amazon Prime’s new series The Boys. Based on the incredible comic book series created by writer Garth Ennis and artist Darick Robertson, The Boy’s takes place in a world where superheroes exist, but they’re reckless, entitled assholes who are way more likely to kill a bunch of innocent people as collateral damage than they are to save the day. When these pricks get really out of hand, The Boys step in. The Boy’s are a covert government team of violent lunatics who fuck up and/or kill superheroes who get out of line. Garth Ennis is the amazing writer behind the comic book classic Preacher as well as writing the most iconic run on The Punisher of all time. If you’re at all familiar with Ennis’ writing you won’t be surprised that The Boys is batshit insane in the best possible way.  Everything I’ve seen so far has indicated that the show is pretty damn faithful to the source material. I’m pretty psyched for this one. Make sure you check out the trailer posted below. The Boys premieres on Amazon Prime on July 26.

   Lastly, we have the new DCAU movie (or DC Animated Universe movie), Batman:Hush. I’m alway excited when one these new animated movies come out. They may not always knock out of the park, but when they do it’s fucking spectacular. Batman: Hush is based on the comic book storyline of the same name, an iconic Batman story written by Jeph Loeb (Batman: The Long Halloween) and legendary artist Jim Lee. The story is a sprawling mystery about a mysterious madman calling himself Hush, who’s hellbent on destroying Batman and everything he loves. The story is a trip through the most iconic parts of Batman’s world, featuring everyone from The Joker and Ras Al Ghul to Superman and Nightwing. This movie has the potential to be great, so I hope DC really nails this story. The trailer is posted below. Batman: Hush hits digitally on July 20th and on Blu-Ray August 6th.

Anyway, listen to this week’s episode of The World’s Best Podcast here or subscribe on Stitcher, Google Podcasts, & iTunes: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/18357511

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-worlds-best-podcast/id1246038441?i=1000442525170

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=62122898&autoplay=1

Trailers:

Thanks for reading and listening! Enjoy!

-Paul

First Trailer!: Doctor Sleep

We seem to be going through a Stephen King film adaptation renaissance right now. Movies like IT and Pet Cemetery fucking ruled. Even last year’s TV series Castle Rock tapped into the “shared Multiverse” that King’s books exist in to great effect. Now, later this year, we have IT:Chapter Two and Doctor Sleep. Both look fantastic. What really sold me on Doctor Sleep was Ewan McGregor and the film’s very solid and intriguing trailer, it pulls you in right away. It gives you a set up without giving you the full picture of what’s going on. It was the perfect first trailer, the mood was fantastic and it just made me want to see more. I think Ewan McGregor is an incredibly underrated actor and his presence in this movie really sold it for me. But I really love the idea of McGregor playing Danny Torrance the boy with “The Shining” (or psychic powers) from the book and film The Shinning. You know the one where Jack Nicholson lost his mind at The Overlook Hotel and he had a psychic son, this is the same character all grown up. I love the idea that after encountering a fucked up supernatural horror as a young man and now he’s encountering something supernatural, but completely different as an adult. This is just a great trailer and this definitely made my list of highly anticipated movies to see in the back half of 2019!

PODCAST: Dark PhoeniX! We Watched It So You Don’t Have To! You’re Welcome.

Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

2000’s X-Men, directed by Bryan Singer was the first REAL comic book superhero of the modern age. Some people say Blade should get some credit in that department, but most people at the time (myself included) didn’t even realize it’s was based on a comic book. However, X-Men had all of the trappings and troupes of a classic comic book: the team of heroes, colorful costumes, SUPER-VILLAINS!, and of course very, very cool super powers. What story from the team’s 40 year history would the filmmakers choose to tell? 

     Sure, we’d seen Superman and Batman on the big screen, but they’re fairly simple compared to something like X-Men. Superman and Batman are seemingly much easier and less complicated to adapt to the big screen. (You guys can debate amongst yourselves if you that’s actually true or not). 

    Wolverine alone has one of the most complicated and intricate back stories in Marvel Comics history and that doesn’t even take into account telling the story of the rest of the X-Men. Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, and Rogue would all needs their place to shine in this tale. Then there’s perhaps the most interesting characters relationship in the film: Xavier and Magneto! 

     Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and the films portrayal of Charles Xavier and Magneto’s frenemy relationship were the highlights of the first X-Men film. Logan, Charles, and Eric were the center of almost all the other future X-Men films in one way or another.

    Anyway, back to July 2000, they pulled it off in the end! The first X-Men was a bona fide hit and proved that comic book superheroes that weren’t household names, with their silly costumes and childish powers could translate into big bucks at the box office. However, It wasn’t until Sam Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man debuted to the bigggest opening weekend ever at the time. Hollywood realized there was golden them there hills and every movie studio with the rights to a comic book superhero property had a movie in development and the superher movie boom again. 

      It wasn’t perfected until 2008 which saw the release of Iron Man starting off Marvel Cinematic Universe and The Dark Knight; a neo-crime epic classic. Since the first X-Men film hit theaters, there has been more than a dozen movies taking place within the X-Universe, some have been good, some have been terrible. 

    Now the X-Men are moving on to greener pastures. To the Elysium, that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s a shame the final film in Fox’s X-Men franchise will be Dark Phoenix because it’s such a poor way to end the series. If the studio had any sense they would’ve ended it with Logan, a true masterpiece and a perfect ending to the X-Men story. Unfortunately that’s how you roll the dice with an X-Men movie. You never know if the creative people trying to tell a great X-Men story, will occasionally have their film ruined by the movie studio trying to fuck it up. So even though there have been masterpieces and pieces of shit in the Men films, we should still be great-full that this series blazed a trail for superhero movies over the last 20 years! 

So on this week’s episode of The World’s Best Podcast we watched the final X-Men film of the FOX era and… it sure is… a movie! We review DARK PHOENIX, so you don’t have to! This weeks podcast may be all about shitting on the new and final X-Men movie for quite some time, but we still love the X-Men! We also discuss our thoughts on Robert Pattinson’s casting as the new Batman! Listen here or subscribe on Stitcher, iTunes, and more: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/18229983

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-worlds-best-podcast/id1246038441#episodeGuid=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.spreaker.com%2Fepisode%2F18229983

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=61816601&autoplay=1

Thanks for listening!

-Paul