Join us, as we take a thrilling dive into Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness on this episode of The World’s Best Podcast! Beware of FULL SPOILERS as we discuss the latest film in The MCU! We also cover the Season (or Series?) Finale of the Disney+ series, Moon Knight! Don’t miss this epic entry in our excellent podcast!
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Disney recently celebrated it’s first Disney+ Day. This was a chance for the streaming service to show its existing and potential new subscribers, the best currently available content on the platform. Perhaps importantly, this was an opportunity to showcase the thrilling new projects expected to debut over the next year. Unsurprisingly, a particular emphasis was put upon their plans for The Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars. Including first looks at the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series, new MCU shows like Moon Knight and She-Hulk, as well as some cool surprises, like the revival of the beloved 90’s show, X-Men: The Animated Series. Below we have some teasers, behind the scenes video, concept art, and more, to help you get the lowdown on the most interesting stuff coming to streaming service over the next year. A huge amount of material was released and revealed during Disney+ Day, so I decided to pick a few of my favorites and give you everything you need to know about these new shows/projects. Take a look, enjoy…
The Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase 4 Continues…
Moon Knight
When Moon Knight was first announced, I remember it was described by one of the producers, as “Indiana Jones meets Batman“. Well, that is one hell of a high bar to set, but from what I know about the character, I think I know what he was getting at. “Indiana Jones meets Batman“ is an appropriate way to describe the tone of some Moon Knight stories. Moon Knight is the story of Marc Spector, a mercenary and adventurer who becomes a brutal vigilante as the avatar of the Egyptian moon god, Khonshu. His adventures often involve various ancient and mystical forces. The Marvel presentation for Disney+ Day presentation only gave us the briefest of glimpses at how Moon Knight is being approached by Marvel’s show-runners. Its not a full trailer, but the video is long enough to be get some sense of where they’re going with the show and this fascinating character.
Official Synopsis:
Moon Knight is a new globetrotting action-adventure series featuring a complex vigilante who suffers from dissociative identity disorder. The multiple identities who live inside him find themselves thrust into a deadly war of the gods against the backdrop of modern and ancient Egypt. Moon Knight is directed by Mohamed Diab and is coming to Disney+ in 2022.
Speaking of ancient, mystical forces Ethan Hawke is playing the shows antagonist, which is extremely exciting. Hawke is still in the middle of filming Moon Knight, so during a recent interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers, he still looked like his mysterious character from Moon Knight. Myers, who’s a big lover, supporter, and advocate of Comic Books and Graphic Novels, casually mentioned that Ethan Hawke was sporting “a real David Koresh vibe.” David Koresh was the cult leader at the center of the infamous Waco siege in 1993. Hawke was astonished and shocked because, as he told Myers, he did, actually, base his character on Koresh. Hawke went on to say, with great admiration for Myer’s correct guess, “I guess it’s working. You’re good, Seth. Or maybe I’m not out of character yet…I will say that he is the source of great character inspiration.”. Many have speculated that Hawke is playing Dracula in the series, which would be fucking awesome.
She-Hulk
She-Hulk, a new comedy series coming to Disney+, stars Tatiana Maslany as She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters, a lawyer who specializes in superhuman-oriented legal cases. She-Hulk will welcome a host of Marvel characters to the series, including the Hulk, played by Mark Ruffalo, and the Abomination, played by Tim Roth. The series is directed by Kat Coiro and Anu Valia; Jessica Gao is head writer.
One of the things I was most curious about with this series, was how they would handle the look of the character. She-Hulk isn’t an inhumanly large powerhouse like her cousin Bruce Banner, but she’s not exactly a petite young woman either. She’s usually portrayed as being almost like an Amazon. Slightly larger and more muscular than a normal human. Even though she inherited her cousin‘s green skin with her transformation, what she lacks in raw physical power like the classic Hulk, she makes up for by having complete control over her mental faculties at all times. Meaning there is no split between Jennifer Walters and She-Hulk. We don’t see a lot of Jennifer Walters in her She-Hulk form, but I thought what little we saw looked great. Tatiana Maslany is a spectacular actress whose going to absolutely crush it in the role. Plus, it’ll be cool to have another Hulk running around The MCU, and any opportunity for an appearance of Prof. Hulk is a win! Check out the quick teaser here:
Marvel Animation Drops A Bomb!
X-Men: The Animated Series ‘97
Now this was a pleasant surprise! With the exception of Batman: The Animated Series, there is no superhero animated show of that era, more beloved, than X-Men: The Animated Series. The show’s ability to tackle mature content, not typically seen in “children’s programming“ at the time, as well as the extremely faithful adaptations of classic X-Men stories, made the show a hit, fan favorite.
Courtesy of Marvel.com, the producers of the new series have said that it will have the “DNA of the original show,” and follow a roster of X-Men similar to the original 90’s series. A major “impactful event” will be the jumping of point for this new series, setting the story in motion, and acting as a call to action for the X-Men. Many of the series original cast members will be returning for the new series, including Cal Dodd (Logan/Wolverine), Lenore Zann (Rogue), George Buza (Beast), Alison Sealy-Smith (Storm), Chris Potter (Gambit), Catherine Disher (Jean Grey/Phoenix), Adrian Hough (Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler), and Christopher Britton (Nathaniel Essex/Mr. Sinister). Unfortunately, some members of the voice cast have since passed a way. It also seems as if the show intends to grow along with it’s original audience, at least to some degree. Most diehard fans of the series are adults now and it sounds like this new iteration is evolving along with it audience. According to the show’s producers at Marvel; “As an animated show, the original X-Men was the forerunner to some amazing action series. Everyone that is making X-Men ’97, top-down, is a fan. On this project, instinctually, we knew exactly what this is. To bring this series forward and pick up that baton, and not just keep running at the same pace, but to really elevate. That’s the responsibility.”Unfortunately we have quite a wait until the show premieres in 2023. Despite the wait, I am really interested and intrigued by this new project.
Star Wars (Or Lack Thereof …
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Official Synopsis:
“The story begins 10 years after the dramatic events of ‘Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith’ where Kenobi faced his greatest defeat: the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, turned evil Sith Lord Darth Vader.”
After huge presentations from both Marvel and Pixar, many found it extremely odd that this teaser trailer for Obi-Wan was literally the only new Star Wars project showcased or discussed for this event. Nothing was announced about The Book of Boba Fett, or The Mandalorian Season 3. Let’s hope there aren’t any behind the scenes problems at Lucasfilm. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before we start to hear gossip one way or another.
Anyway, people has been clamoring for on Obi-Wan Kenobi film for years. Despite the reputation of the prequel‘s, they’ve aged surprisingly well. An entire generation grew up with the prequel trilogy as “their Star Wars”. With Ewan McGregor being particularly beloved in his portrayal of the Jedi Master also known as Ben Kenobi. With the Obi-Wan Kenobi series debuting in 2022, I would argue that a mini series on Disney+ is a much better option as a fan, than one movie. Considering how fantastic the Star Wars shows on Disney+ have been, I think we can expect to get what is a miniseries that’s essentially an 8 to 10 episode Obi-Wan Kenobi movie. One of the most exciting piece of information confirmed during this presentation is the return of Hayden Christiansen as Anakin Skywalker. I love the idea of another confrontation between Vader and his old master, taking place sometime between their duel in Revenge of The Sith and when they meet again in A New Hope.
It’s sort of tracks that there would’ve been another confrontation or fight between the two of them, before their final reckoning in A New Hope. Because, when you think about it, Vader is pretty calm when he runs into Obi-Wan on The Death Star in Episode IV. I would think that if someone cut off my arms and legs, left me to burn alive, forcing me to live in agony inside a cybernetic suit that keeps me from dying, I’d be fucking PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISED! It will be interesting to see if and how they rehash the past upon their meeting. Will Vader blame Obi-Wan for Padme’? Will Ashoka be discussed? As much as I love the idea of Hayden Christiansen returning to play Anakin Skywalker again, I wonder exactly how they’re going to use him. For example, when he becomes Vader in Revenge of the Sith, that’s Hayden Christiansen in the Vader costume, but it’s still James Earl Jones‘s voice. I would think if they’re going to go to the trouble of using Hayden Christiansen, they would want the audiences to at least see him. I think flashbacks are probably very likely, we may even see some thing like his helmet get partially damaged, just enough damage to keep him going, but also just enough to see Hayden Christensen’s face inside. Allowing him to show us his portrayal of Anakin whose utterly and completely given himself to The Dark Side. I’ve always wondered what it would’ve looked like if Anakin wasn’t mutilated in his fight on Mustafar. Even if Anakin didn’t necessarily beat mObi-Wan in the fight, what would’ve happened if he had gotten away more or less in one piece? Without his horrific injuries, the robotic suit, and a near constant state of agony, what would Anakin have become? Based on his track record and what we know about The Force. Anakin most likely would’ve killed The Emperor after a relatively short amounts time and seized control of The Empire himself. I can say with confidence that he probably would’ve ended up as the most powerful and horrifically dangerous threat, the galaxy had seen in thousands of years.
The show boasts and impressive cast of new and returning characters like Luke’s aunt and uncle, Owen and Beru Lars. You can take a look at the full cast below.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is by far one of my most anticipated projects of 2022!
As of Disney+ Day, Disney upgraded multiple MCU films to IMAX level quality. You’ll notice a bit of a crisper, cleaner, more realistic look. All of the upgraded titles are listed below:
Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings
Iron Man
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Captain America: Civil War
Doctor Strange
Thor: Ragnarok
Black Panther
Avengers: Infinity War
Ant-Man and The Wasp
Captain Marvel
Avengers: Endgame
Black Widow
Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter @PJWrightWBM, on Instagram @worldsbestmedia2017, and our Facebook Page, Worlds Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews for the podcast, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!
This week on The World’s Best Podcast, guest co-host Mike Cole and I dive right into the Season Finale of WandaVision! How’d the story wrap up? What did we think of the series in general? & What does this mean for the future of the characters and The MCU, after one of Marvel’s most wildly unique and compelling stories yet?
Listen here: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/43761901 Or subscribe/listen on Spotify, Stitcher, Spreaker, iHeartRadio, Deezer, Podchaser, Castbox, Podcast Addict, Google Podcasts, & Apple Podcasts/ITunes…
One of the best moments in the finale, is during the fight between the 2 Visions. What begins as a pretty cool physical confrontation, is ultimately resolved when “our” Vision proposes a thought experimental his double (specifically, The Ship of Theseus). This reveals to Vision’s white, doppelgänger, the flawed and conflicting nature of his programming. I loved this scene because it’s a clever way to subvert the superhero story troupe of “The Final Battle”, which was in keeping with the unique nature of the series. I didn’t know at the time, but this was taken straight out of one of a recent Avengers comics! Take a look…
Cool, right?
Thanks for listening! Follow me on Twitter @PJWrightWBM or type Worlds Best Media into the search bar, you can also like and follow us on our Facebook page; World’s Best Media. We’re on Instagram @worldsbestmedia2017. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!
X-Men: The Animated Series Now Streaming on Disney+! Watch the trailer below!
As a child of the 90s, there were really only three superhero cartoons that defined the era for most kids. The best, was of course, the absolute classic Batman: The Animated Series, Spider-Man, and X-Men: The Animated Series. Batman: The Animated Series aired on Kid’s WB, while Spider-Man, and X-Men: The Animated Series were both on Fox Kids or Fox (Though there may have been some overlap at some point). I was a Batman and Spider-Man kid all the way, I loved both of the shows. Those shows were the reason I started reading comic books. When I went to my local comic book store, while I was in middle school, I asked the owner to set me up with the Spider-Man and Batman comic books.
While Spider-Man has its charms, it doesn’t hold a candle to Batman: The Animated Series, which still holds up as one of the best television shows of all time. It may surprise you to hear that, despite my love for superhero comics and my love of the X-Men in general, for some reason I never got into X-Men: The Animated Series. It was a big deal for all the kids I went to school with, but something about just turned me off and I never got into it. As time went on and I started to get into actual comic books and I became a huge X-Men comic book fan I would check out random episodes here and there, but I hadn’t seen very much of the show. At that point X-Men: Evolution had begun to coincide with the X-Men live action films that were being released. However, to many people who grew up in that era, X-Men: The Animated Series is the definitive take on the characters. I knew a lot of people who based their expectations of the X-Men films on what was done on the animated series. Like I said, I haven’t seen more than a few episodes, but from what I understand they took on classic stories like The Dark Phoenix Saga, Days of Future Past, and Age of Apocalypse.
The one problem I will really always have with an X-Men cartoon that’s aimed at kids, is that I think the subject matter just doesn’t translate well to a heavily censored audience. One of the biggest issues I‘ll always have is the fact that everyone’s favorite character from that series is Wolverine. I’ve viewed Wolverine as a perfect example of main stream popular culture’s fundamental misunderstanding of comic book superheroes. Let me see right away, this is something that has hugely improved over the last few years. I think that as a culture, we have become more understanding that superhero stories run the gamut from something that’s appropriate for young children to stories that are only appropriate for adults. The example I love give is, when Batman Returns came out, McDonald’s had toys for that film in their happy meals as part of a promotional deal. Yet that is one of the most fucked up, dark, superhero movies that exists. The Penguin bites a guy’s nose off at one point. Which brings me back to X-Men: The Animated Series and the man called Logan. When Wolverine, one of the main protagonists of an animated show aimed at children, whose defining ability are the razor sharp adamantium claws that shoot out from his hands, there’s a disconnect between content and audience. I mean, there’s only so many times someone can throw a chair at him and he cuts it in half with his claws, with the pieces knocking the assailant out. Or Wolverine cuts a door or weapon. Come on, those things were created for one thing and one thing only and that is to take chunks out of people and stab them until they’re dead. But obviously you can’t do that on a kids show. I always felt like there was extra silliness to the character because it was so obvious that he was being toned down just by the very nature of his powers. His powers revolve around his excellence at murdering people, it’s just right there. Anyway that’s my nitpick.
The point is that, up untill now, X-Men: The Complete Animated Series was never available easily on any streaming service or even some of the major digital purchasers. And there’s never been a DVD or Blu-ray release for The Complete Animated Series or even season by season. Well, that has all changed with Disney+, for the first time X-Men: The Animated Series is available in it’s entirety on Disney+. I think they know that they have an asset with this series, not only will all the original fans go out of their way to watch and enjoy the show, but many of those original fans will share the series with their own children. So Disney+ has putout a special trailer to commemorate the X-Men: The Complete Animated Series becoming fully available on their streaming service. It’s actually pretty cool. Check it out here:
Unfortunately they missed the opportunity to include the iconic X-Men opening theme song. If they put out this trailer, with the X-Men theme song playing at some point in the background, people would be running to their tablets and computers to sign up for Disney+. Even though it isn’t in this pretty cool trailer, the theme song is so goddamn catchy I wanted to make sure I included here for your viewing and listening pleasure…
It’s always worth noting that Disney+ may be promoting the show to gauge audience interest in producing a new season. That’s just conjecture, but it’s worth asking the question. Disney+ actually has a fantastic back catalogue of TV shows, especially when it comes to great cartoons from the 90s and early 2000s. You can find Spiderman: The Complete Animated Series, the aforementioned X-Men: Evolution, and a lot more to discover and explore. My personal favorite is the classic 90s Disney Afternoon series, Gargoyles, which is available in its entirety streaming on Disney+. This show is ridiculously fucking good. It is amazing the shit they got away with for a late 90s cartoon on Disney Afternoon. It is extremely dark, there are on screen murders, they even swear a few times, which is crazy for any animated series that is directed at children. The show is so fucking cool, deep, with characters that are compelling and fascinating, along with a rich and complex mythology that sucks you in. I will definitely write a much longer article about why you need to go out of your way to watch Gargoyles, because it’s fucking awesome. In fact, rumor has it for a while now that Jordan Peele actually wants to make a live action Gargoyles movie, which would be fucking amazing. I really hope that one comes through. Anyway I thought you guys might be interested in these trailers and the info about what is available over on Disney+. Enjoy your binge watching and bring your kids if you have them, I guess. Or screw your kids, go enjoy yourself, pawn your kid off on your spouse or just let them walk around in the yard or some thing. Lock yourself in a room for a few hours and kick back to a time when you were the kid instead of worrying about your goddamn kid. That’s pretty good advice right? All you need is a leash attached to one of those runners that goes across the yard, so kid can just run back and forth and tire itself out. Set out a bowl of water, watch your cartoons, and you’re good to go.
Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @PJWrightWBM or type Worlds Best Media into the search bar, you can also like and follow us on our Facebook page; World’s Best Media. We’re on Instagram @worldsbestmedia2017. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!
I have a love-hate relationship with Spider-Man. When the original Spider-Man spider anfilm came out in 2002, it was one of my most anticipated films of all time. However, when it came out I was a little disappointed to be honest. At the time, the type of Spider-Man comics I was reading, were very different from the tone that Sam Raimi chose to go with in his 2002 Spider-Man film. I was reading Brian Michael Bendis reconstruct Spider-Man for a whole new generation in Ultimate Spider-Man, while Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man film was most influenced by creators like Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, John Romita Sr. days. After rewatching the movie for this episode of the podcast, I still think some of it works and some of it doesn’t. However, it’s still a fun film with moments of excellence.
As you’ll hear me say in this weeks episode of the podcast, the final scene of Spidey swinging through the streets of New York as Danny Elfman’s score swells, is still the most thrilling web-swinging Spider-Man sequence to date. I even love Toby Maguire’s final voiceover! It’s so damn good that I had to include it right here…
Blade and X-Men may have paved the way for serious, quality superhero films, but Spider-Man is the film most directly responsible for “The Age of Comic Book Films” that we live in today. Blade was a bloody, intense film with elements of horror. Most of the audience didn’t even know Blade was based on a Marvel comic book series. It stood on its own as a horror/action film about a badass vampire hunter, X-Men was a tougher sell because it was a full blown comic book superhero movie in a way that Blade wasn’t. X-Men had an expansive mythology, multiple sci-fi elements and was a thematic allegory about bigotry and marginalized minority groups. Both films were hits, but they weren’t movies that you could take your kids and your grandparents to. One of the reasons Spider-Man was such a massive head was because it appealed to weigh much wider audience. Arguably the first major superhero movie since Batman that all moviegoers would head out and see.
The now iconic, upside down kiss.
Spider-Man swung into theatres for the biggest box office opening weekend of all time! Of course, that record would go on to be broken many times over. However at the time, while the superhero movie phenomenon was still in its relative infancy, it felt pretty damn cool as a long time comic book fan. It felt like the world was finally realizing something we all knew all along. The current record holder for biggest opening weekend of all time, goes to another beloved superhero film, Avengers: Endgame (which is also the highest grossing movie of all time)! We take a look back at one of the most influential and important superhero films of the modern age on this week’s episode of The World’s Best Podcast!
Spidey take a goblin bomb right to the fucking mush!
Listen here: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/41028841 Or subscribe on Stitcher, Spreaker, iHeartRadio, Deezer, Podchaser, Castbox, Podcast Addict, Google Podcasts, & Apple Podcasts/ITunes… Coming Soon to SPOTIFY…
You guys know that I love concept art. So for those of you interested, Comic Book Movie posted some very cool concept art from the first Spider-Man film by artist James Carson. The art includes a much cooler and more organic take on the Green Goblin and some images of Spidey’s web shooters. Check them out below…
While Raimi’s Spider-Man ended up going with “organic web shooters”, they did consider using the classic web shooters as you can see in the above concept art.
Thanks for listening! Follow me on Twitter @PJWrightWBM or type Worlds Best Media into the search bar, you can also like and follow us on our Facebook page; World’s Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!
It’s crazy that not too long ago I was lamenting the lost art of movie posters. I singled out the beautiful work of artist Drew Struzan’s iconic posters for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Harry Potter, among others. With his incredible sketch and paint style, working both artistically beautiful and ultra realistic, he’s crafted some of cinema’s most iconic imagery. It’s ironic that one of the worst genre films to come along in quite a while, Dark Phoenix, actually has a pretty beautiful poster in the vein of Drew Struzan, which you can see at the top of the article. Below that is another incredible poster from one of the best artist in the world right now, BossLogic. To be clear: the Srtuzan inspired poster is on top, BossLogic’s poster is below.
While Dark Phoenix may be disappointing fans all over the world. I found this wonderful video online that does a great job of talking about why The Dark Phoenix Saga is so special in the first place. If you’re feeling bummed out that one of your favorite, iconic, comic book story lines has once again been butchered by an incompetent movie studio, this video should definitely get your spirits up.The video comes to us from NowThisNerd, you can subscribe to their channel on YouTube. Its the perfect antidote to your Dark Phoenix blues. Watch it here:
In this Episode, guest co-host Mike Cole and I discuss the X-Men joining the MCU. We talk about the direction we’d like to see the franchise take. Should they somehow incorporate the existing X-Men movies into the MCU or just start fresh? What kind of stories and characters do we want to see? Finally, what casting ideas might we have about the X-Men? Oh, and where does Deadpool fit into all this? This and so much more on The World’s Best Podcast! Listen here or subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes:
Below are Amazon links to the excellent X-Men comics I mentioned at the end of the podcast, in case you’d like to read them for your self which I highly recommend.
World’s Best Media 