I haven’t been a big fan of the Academy Awards for years now, but I must admit I was very excited when Black Panther received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. This is the first time a comic book film, a superhero film has been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Even though I don’t consider the Oscars to be the standard by which excellence in film should necessarily be judged, it’s still a great feeling of validation to a lifelong comic book fan. Not to mention that it’s all too rare to see a big budget superhero film with a predominantly black cast that, as put so well by Marc Bernardin in his Entertainment Weekly cover story, Black Panther is a movie about celebrating “Excellence”. Which is all too rare. This movie’s cultural impact cannot be understated. Even putting all of that aside, Black Panther is just a great fucking movie that absolutely deserves this recognition.
The cast of Black Panther after their win for Best Ensemble Cast at The Screen Actors Guild Awards.
So, With Black Panther nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, on this episode we wanted to acknowledge that historic accomplishment as well as talk about other comic book films that deserved Oscar noms. We also discuss some of the upcoming DC films, like Birds of Prey. To top it all off, we try to figure out (if you could pick ANY character from ANY comic book universe) who would have the best chance in a face off against Thanos with The Infinity Gauntlet! All this and so much more on this episode of “The World’s Best Podcast”! Enjoy! Listen here or subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes:
This month DC Animation is releasing the second movie in their two part Death of Superman saga, Reign of The Supermen. Reign of The Supermen begins roughly 6 months after The Death of Superman. The world is still in morning, but none more so than Lois Lane. Shortly before his death, due to his injuries sustained saving the city from Doomsday in the previous film, Clark and Lois’ relationship had reached the point where they were deeply in love with each other. Which makes Clark’s death all the more tragic, but more on that in a moment.
Even with the fantastic action sequences we come to expect, I’ve really enjoyed the small character moments in both of these movies that give the films some heart. For example, the developing friendship between Lois Lane and Wonder Woman added a nice layer to the film. Superhero comics are often so male focused, we don’t get to see enough positive female friendships. Even though it’s Clark’s death that brings them together in this film, it’s great to see their bond develop throughout the film. Even though they are very different people in many ways, it makes a lot of sense that they would like each other, that they’d hit it off.
Lois and Diana just chillin’
A problem DC characters face that most Marvel characters don’t, is the fact that the Justice League are almost a modern day pantheon of gods. Which can make them seem distant, inhuman and unrelatable. Seeing Lois and Diana together in civilian attire bonding at a local pub is a great scene that humanizes these larger than life characters. It’s a small moment, but I hope the writers take the opportunity to grow this relationship. There’s great dramatic and comedic potential in pairing Lois and Diana in this and future films.
As, I touched upon earlier, when that film began, Lois and Clark have been dating long enough that they both knew some serious choices needed to be made in their relationship. Was this just a fun office romance? Or is it something real? They love one another, but Clark struggles with how and if he should tell Lois that he is Superman. Their love story is a key story aspect of that film.
I think the decision to make this story into two films really works and you see that decision pay off here. Considering the ambition of the story they were telling, this does feel like one film, cut in two, instead of two separate movies. I hope they put out a deluxe edition with both films together like they did with The Dark Knight Returns Part One and Two. There are so many callbacks and little moments connected to the first film, that if you haven’t seen The Death of Superman, you may not understand the emotional impact of certain moments.
Following Superman’s death, four new “Superman themed” heroes appear. The question to some is, if somehow one of them could be the real deal. First there’s Steel, a scientist named John Henry Irons we’d met in a few previous DCAU films. Irons has essentially built Superman-themed Iron Man armor. He has a particularly cool mechanized hammer, almost like a high tech version of Thor’s new ax/hammer in Infinity War. With his flowing red cape and the S on his armor, he cant quite reach the power level of the original Man of Steel, but he certainly holds his own.
Then there’s the teenage Superboy, a LexCorp sponsored hero reveling in his celebrity and all too eager to prove himself to be the hero that Superman was and so much more. Unfortunately, he finds out the hard way that a cocky attitude and bravado can’t compete with the years of experience the original Superman had under his belt. His origin is pretty dark and I won’t spoil it here, if you don’t know it already. Some may find his character to be a little bit annoying, but I found there to be an underlying tragedy to the character and I thought his relationship with Lex Luthor was particularly interesting.
Superboy and his complicated relationship with Lex Luthor
I don’t want to go into full spoilers, but there are 2 other contenders for the title of the new Man of Steel: The dangerous Eradicator and Cyborg-Superman. Both are much darker figures than Steel and Superboy. Strangely, it seems that if any of these new “heroes” are Kal-El of Krypton reborn, Cyborg-Superman seems like the best bet, but like all of the new Superman figures there is more to him than meets the eye.
The EradicatorCyborg-Superman
When the shit really starts to hit the fan, the movie finds a particularly clever way to take of the Justice League out of the equation for the big final battle at the end of the film. Had the Justice League been present, it definitely would’ve created major story problems, so it was nice to see that was handled well. The absence of the Justice League forces some unpredictable and surprising figures to step up and act more heroically than you may expect, including Lex Luthor.
Rainn Wilson returns to the role of Lex Luthor in this film after first playing him in The Death of Superman. I really like how Lex is portrayed in both of these movies. He is undoubtably self-serving, amoral, and even a flat out piece of shit at times. However, he doesn’t want to see mankind destroyed or brought low. He genuinely wants to help the human race and at times, under the right circumstances, he can even act heroically. The film leaves him in a particularly interesting place in this regard and I‘m very much looking forward to see where they take the character from here.
Lex Luthor himself
In my review for last year’s The Death of Superman (Read it here:https://best-media-world.com/2018/07/29/movie-review-the-death-of-superman/), I mention how the film feels very much like a story about Clark Kent “the man” first and foremost. Not Superman, just Clark Kent. The Death of Superman is about the young man who grew up on a Kansas farm raised by wonderful parents.
If The Death of Superman was about Clark Kent, Reign of The Supermen is all about Lois Lane.She’s the lead in this film. Sure, we have four new Superman “replacements/Wannabes/psychos” running around that are crucial to the story, But make no mistake this is Lois’s film. We get to see you Lois in action playing the hero on a level I don’t think we’ve ever seen her before outside of the comics. Even without the costume and the powers she almost feels like the superhero of the film. I mentioned before that at some point in the film the Justice League are taken out of the equation and there are people seriously fighting out of their weight class. Lois Lane is of course one of these people. She manages to hold her own in against one of the most dangerous super villains in the DC Universe and the movie makes it work. Almost like Batman, Lois uses her cunning and what weapons she has at her disposal to take on some real heavy hitters. Lois and Lex Luthor, as characters are probably some of the strongest parts of this film
I don’t really want to get into the method in which a Superman is resurrected. I mean, c’mon! We all knew he was coming back. No one thought he going to stay dead. But the events surrounding his resurrection, put Superman at a slight disadvantage. Which was another creative way to up the stakes for the characters, especially when Superman is often labeled as being too powerful in his stories.
He’s got the black suit! And the beard! AND THE MULLET!! FUCK YEAH!!!
There are some really great action sequences in the climax. Some of the animation in particular is very dynamic, fluid, almost anime. That turns some people off, but I think it looks really cool and I thought it especially worked for this film.
SOMESPOILERSINTHEFOLLOWINGPARAGRAPH
Beware…
The Death Of Superman strongly hinted at the mastermind behind the events in both of these films. It won’t be too hard to guess the individual’s identity. SLIGHT SPOILERS FOR FUTURE POSSIBLE FILMS: I really like how the story leavesSuperman and the rest of the Justice League contemplating how to deal with the threat of Darkseid. This was his revenge for his failed invasion of Earth in Justice League: War (Though it seems he blames Superman for that defeat more than the other heroes for some reason). The JL knows that Darkseid is going to keep coming and they’re going to have to do something about him. I’m really excited for the story possibilities this set up for future movies. I hope the folks at DC animation take full advantage of the storytelling potential. Oh, and stay for the post-credits scene! Not only is it important to some potential future films but it’s also just really fun and funny. Don’tmiss it
It looks like we may be getting an adaptation of The Darkseid War
ENDSPOILERS
All in all, I loved The Death of Superman, I don’t think Reign of The Supermen quite reached the heights of the previous film. However, it still has a lot going for it that makes it absolutely worth a watch. For a fun and exciting superhero movie with some above average character work and thrilling action sequences, you can’t go wrong with Reign of The Supermen. I definitely recommend you check it out.
The folks over at DC and Warner Bros. must be feeling pretty damn good right about now. After years of attempting and failing to copy Marvel’s shared universe format, it finally seems like their superhero movies are on the right track. Wonder Woman was their first huge step in the right direction. Unfortunately, by the time Warner Bros realized Wonder Woman was a hit, production on the craptacular Justice League film was in full swing. I’m not quite sure what they could’ve done, but if production on Justice league had begun following the critical and commercial success of Wonder Woman, I think Warner Bros. probably would’ve tried to write the ship a little bit on JL.
Anyway, you can’t change the past (Or can you?… Well… No, um, no. I don’t think you can… Actually, who’s to say?), so they went from the success of Wonder Woman, to the unavoidable speedbump of Justice League, and now they have another bona fide hit on their hands with Aquaman. A film which was both financially successful and generally well received by fans and audiences in general. However, the DCEU (I REFUSE to call it The Worlds of DC!) has another very big test coming up, their next movie: SHAZAM! (Yes, the exclamation point IS part of the title, not just for emphasis).
DC just released the second trailer for SHAZAM!, which I have posted below. As well as a few pretty cool posters (one at the top of the article and one below) and some stills and pictures from the film.
This movie has the potential to make or break DC at this point. This is really their do or die film. Yes, Aquaman absolutely had a lot riding on it as well. Had that movie been a failure, it would’ve been disastrous for the DCEU. However, if they’re able to pull off SHAZAM! after the success of Aquaman, it demonstrates that Aquaman wasn’t a fluke (No, that’s not a lame pun). It shows that DC can consistently and reliably put out solid superhero films.
If they somehow manage to pull another rabbit out of their ass and make SHAZAM! a success, it’s almost even more impressive because on the paper, both Aquaman and SHAZAM! are pretty fucking weird characters. Also, neither of them are very well known in mainstream pop culture. Based on this trailer, which is nothing mind blowing and that’s OK, I think they really need to nail the tone of this movie for it to work. If it’s too comedic and goofy it won’t work is a serious movie that has any real stakes. At the same time you want that sense of youthful fun and exuberance which comes with telling the Shazam story. It’s basically the superhero version of “Big”. Kid says the magic word “SHAZAM!” and he’s transformed into an adult superhero at will. His powers a magic based and they’re very similar to Superman’s, he can turn back into a kid at any time by repeating the magic word “SHAZAM!”. There’s no time limit. So they’re walking a really fine line here.
Like I said, based on the trailer, it’s hard to see if they’re pulling it off. But I know I’m rooting for this movie because I like the character, I like the cast, and I just want to see good DC movies. Hopefully this will be another solid film after last months very good Aquaman and we’ll start to get some consistently great DC movies. There are so many amazing character occupying this Universe, it would be such a shame to miss out on all the possibilities. Anyway check out the trailer below and let me know what you think. Id love to hear your thoughts in the comments section or on Facebook or Twitter.
Superman is mostly portrayed as such a wholesome, pure character. A lot of people mentally associate him with classic Americana, like apple pie and Norman Rockwell. However, the best writers understand that the key to writing Superman is to highlight his humanity. Take the recent Superman #7 written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Ivan Reis, for example. Something I’ve enjoyed in some of the recent Superman comics, especially Bendis’ Superman comics is, without being gratuitous, it’s clear that Clark and Lois have a healthy sex life. Yet Clark is still a big old Kansas farm boy, raised to be a respectful and decent son.
So I loved a small moment in Issue #7, during a scene involving Clark and Lois’ adolescent son Jonathan. Jon who’s about 12 or 13, has been out traveling the cosmos with his grandfather, in what I guess is the Kryptonian version of backpacking through Europe. An unexpected problem presents itself When Clark quickly realizes that his son who is only been gone for a month or so has aged at least three years. At first he thinks this has something to do with one of those weird colored Kryptonites. You know, the yellow Kryptonite or the pink Kryptonite or … something like that. What was supposed to be a summer vacation has turned, through the weirdness of space travel (think the movie Interstellar) into Clark and Lois missing a pretty large portion of their sons life and development. It comes as no surprise that it’s quite a shock.
After Clark’s emotional, but joyous reunion with his son, they of course go to see his mother, Lois whose been living out of a hotel in Metropolis for awhile now as she puts the finishing touches on her latest book. It’s implied that it is not uncommon for Clark to fly on by for a little afternoon delight semi-frequently, which is where the fun begins.
Clark flies up to her balcony and Lois is at her computer, writing, in nothing but a fluffy white hotel bathrobe and black underwear. Lois sees Clark before she realizes Jonathan is there, she begins to undo her bathrobe with a sultry little smirk, just as their son peaks around from behind Clark. It’s such a perfect moment seeing the absolute embarrassment on Clark’s face is he quickly shoots his arm up to cover his sons eyes and Lois’ mortified expression as she attempts to cover up and make herself look a bit more modest in front of her son. The small scene is a good example of how you can take a god and tell a story about a man.
What’s more human than those million little moments that make up life? Some good, some bad, and some, like this one, hilariously embarrassing. Writers often complain that Superman is a difficult character to write, I just think many of them don’t understand him. Like I said at the beginning, the key to any great Superman story is his humanity and this small scene illustrates that perfectly.
It’s been twenty years in the making (and one quasi-sequel), but, Glass, M. Night Shyamalan’s follow up to his superhero classic, Unbreakable, is finally here! For years, a direct sequel to Unbreakable was one of my most desired films. So needless to say I was extremely excited to see the finale to M. Night Shyamalan‘s superhero trilogy, Glass. In this SPOILER filled review, I gives my full breakdown of the movie and more. Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, and James McAvoy all give great performances, but does the film live up to nearly two decades of hype? Listen here or subscribe on iTunes and Stitcher to find out:
After months of teasing, the first trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home has finally arrived. I’m so pleased to say that even after all of the excellent Spider-Man content we’ve been getting recently, this doesn’t look quite like any other Spider-Man movie we’ve see. Which is a tall order after Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.
So, here’s something completely new for the Internet! A trailer breakdown for Spider-Man: Far From Home! What exactly is going on in this movie? When does this take place? How is Peter alive after the events of Infinity War?
What’s old Nick Fury up to?
Is that Hydro-Man? Sandman? Molten Man?
Most importantly, who’s this Mysterio guy Jake Gyllenhaal is playing?
All these questions and more are answered right here in Paul’s breakdown of the 1st trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home! Enjoy! I also have the full trailer posted below the trailer breakdown link! Listen here or subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes:
In this follow up to last week’s episode, The Best & Worst Of 2018, this podcast is all about what’s to come in 2019! This episode as well as the end of the year retrospective arealways fun to record. So Paul Sr. and I discuss our most anticipated movies, TV series, and comics in 2019. We talk about Glass, the long awaited sequel to Unbreakable, the final EPIC season of GameofThrones, Avengers: Endgame, the new Hellboy movie, and much, much more!
Below the links for the podcast, I’ve included a list of my personal most anticipated movies and TV shows coming out in 2019 and when they’re scheduled for release.
DON’T MISS this killer episode! Listen here or subscribe on iTunes and Stitcher:
Hey Everyone, Paul here. This a great teaser. It doesn’t show us much, but it gets us in the mood. Now we finally know, the End Begins… April 14! Winter Is Coming.
Earlier this year, Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia ended after their third season. As far as I know, they completed the story and ended according to the schedule that creator Guillermo Del Toro had envisioned. I loved the series, and I was sad to see it go. Then about a month ago or so, I saw on one of those “Everything new coming to Netflix in December” articles, something called “3Below: Tales of Arcadia,” and the article had an image, and it was clear that the animation was similar style to Trollhunters, but the article itself didn’t mention whether or not the two were related, so a quick IMDb check confirmed that his was a spinoff series, and a brief conversation with Paul, he informed me that this was the second in a planned 3 part series.
Anyway, the show has been out for about three weeks, and I just finished watching the first season, and I’ve got to say it’s pretty good. It’s not as good as Trollhunters, (my 2 year-old would give up about thirty seconds into every episode and say “we watch real Trollhunters now?”) but it’s good.
Above: Krel, guardian Varvatos Vex, & Aja in their natural form. Below: In their human disguises.
First off, even though the two main characters Aja and Krel, extra-terrestrial (they don’t like the term aliens!) siblings living in Arcadia were featured briefly in Trollhunters, the show had a little more work to setting it up than Trollhunters did. Trollhunters starts out on Earth, on a pretty standard version we would all recognize, and then reveals that there is a secret underworld of trolls, and other magical creatures; they start with the default and add. 3Below however starts on a planet known as Acaridian 5 and tells the story of Princess Aja and Prince Krel on the day they are to become the King and Queen in waiting, and are attacked by enemies and have to go on the run. We don’t see Earth until the end of the episode. This doesn’t make it a worse show that Trollhunters, but certainly it gives it a different set of challenges to overcome. They do so pretty well, but it takes just a little longer to really get invested.
I’m not going to get too into spoilers, but I will say that one of the things I really like about this show, is that they create a lot of new mythology within this universe, and they aren’t just applying the same formula as Trollhunters to this, meaning it’s not an Madlibs style situation where they’re like alright we need this role because Trollhunters had it. Trollhunters is largely about Jim and his friends going after something, and this is definitely more of Aja and Krell running from something, and not necessarily in a cowardly way, but in order to protect their kingdom.
Another thing that I really like about this show, is that they manage to pull in characters we’ve gotten to know through Trollhunters, and build upon them. We get to see Jim, Toby, and Claire, but we also get to see Steve, who’ a bully on Trollhuntersgiven some fleshing out, fully realized on this show, as he quickly has a crush on Aja after she kicks his ass. We get to see Senor Uhl, less as the authority figure to be thwarted or avoided, but more as the protector when other humans seem to target the twins in their human forms.
(Steve & Aja. Steve’s come a long way…)
All in all, I really liked this show, and I hope that we get to see another season or two (whatever Guillermo Del Toro has envisioned) and now that I’ve seen how aliens and magic have played with each other in this setting, I’m really interested in seeing what he has in mind for the 3rd series he’s planning.
2018 is at an end and that means it’s time for the return of one of my favorite episodes of The World’s Best Podcast: The Best & The Worst of 2018! We cover the very best and
the human diarrhea in story form, from TV, Movies Comics and I’ll kinds of other cool shit! This was by far one of my favorite podcasts that we recorded this year and I think you’re all going to love it!
I recorded this episode of The World’s Best Podcast with one my absolute favorite co-host, Ryan McDonald! Of course what look back at the best and worst of 2018 be without a very special appearance by Paul Sr! So sit back and enjoy as we deep dive into everything from Avengers: Infinity War, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, and Mission: Impossible Fallout to Daredevil, The DC Superhero Crossovers Elseworlds, and more!
*Editors Note- We did have a very minor editing glitch for about 2 seconds towards the last quarter of the episode. You could easily miss it because of who quick and minor it is, but I wanted to give you all a heads up regardless. Even with the issue it still think this is a great episode and I’m very proud of it!
This is a DON’T MISS episode! Listen here or subscribe on iTunes and Stitcher:
World’s Best Media 