The Marvels Recap and Review - The Short Box Podcast Ep. 409

 [00:00:00] Intro music plays

[00:00:26] Badr: Yo, short box nation. Welcome back to the podcast. Thanks for being here. If you're new to the show, welcome. Thanks for pressing play. My name is Badr, and this is the short box podcast, the comic book talk show that brings you the best conversations about comics and pop culture inspired by comics.

[00:00:44] Badr: This is episode four Oh nine. And today we're getting you. We're giving you a fresh review of the Marvels movie. And I guess really like the, the uh, the freshness level depends on when you're hearing this. If you're a Patreon subscriber, you're getting this on Saturday opening weekend. And if you're a normal listener, no offense, you're hearing this on Wednesday.

[00:01:02] Badr: What can I say? Being a supporter of the podcast has its perks, but I digress. We've been overdue a movie review for a couple of months now. The last one we did was when we gave a glowing review of, uh, of Across the Spider Verse. A movie that I think I saw twice, if not three times. That was the last time we did a movie review.

[00:01:20] Badr: And I, it got me thinking, you know, we spent so much time last week talking about the now infamous, uh, MCU Variety article and talking about the MCU shortcomings and, you know, the supposed downfall and the crisis, etc, etc. So I figured it would only be right to see the Marvel's movie for myself if anything the article had the opposite effect of deterring me From watching this movie.

[00:01:44] Badr: I don't know It just got me more interested in seeing if the MCU would bounce back with this one So I wanted to I guess I wanted to see if all the shortcomings and challenges outlined in that article We're translating the film, so, you know, I wanted to experience it for myself, and I'm dragging you guys along with me, alright?

[00:01:59] Badr: With that said, though, if you haven't seen the movie, or if you have any plans or interest to see this movie, this might be a good place to pause this episode, or save it for later. We will be talking about important plot points, and scenes from the marvels that might spoil the movie for you. So, consider this your official...

[00:02:16] Badr: Spoiler warning, all right? Proceed at your own caution. Or, skip ahead to the last part of this episode and check out a new segment we're trying out that spotlights up and coming indie comic creators and kick ass Kickstarter projects. In this episode, you'll hear about an awesome new Kickstarter for a brand new graphic novel called Everyday Black Belter.

[00:02:35] Badr: It's a collection of comics from the mind of a Marshall y artistic family man, that family man being Jerome Kabanatan, who's a good friend of the show. He's doing a graphic novel that combines comics, martial arts, and hip hop, uh, i. e. the most short box appropriate comic project out there. You'll get to hear from, uh, Jerome himself at the end of the show, so please stay tuned for that.

[00:02:56] Badr: Uh, I think I've stalled long enough with that said, let me go to introduce my co host today. All right. My, my, my panel is looking pretty strong today. We've got both of them on camera. So if you want to watch the video episode of this podcast, check it out on YouTube, but sitting in the short box studio for me and I'll Mike number two is a voice you'll recognize because in my humble opinion, she's the real star of these movie review episodes.

[00:03:18] Badr: Ladies and gents, we got Blythe Rumleaf on mic number two.

[00:03:22] Blythe Brumleve: Thank you, thank you. I was waiting for that moment.

[00:03:26] Badr: All right, we got Blythe with us and calling in all the way from the heartland of the U. S. is Mr. Chris Hacker on mic number three. What up, Chris? Dude, what is going on with the balloon? I

[00:03:38] Blythe Brumleve: don't know why.

[00:03:39] Blythe Brumleve: It's the new Apple settings. I've been dealing with this in my own interviews that if you give a peace sign... The Apple computer gives, like, balloons, and

[00:03:51] Chris Hacker: Get the fuck out of here. Imagine

[00:03:52] Blythe Brumleve: being on, like, a professional, like, you know, logistics B2B interview and

[00:03:56] Badr: someone is doing that. Okay. Chris was on the pod, I think, maybe two, three weeks ago.

[00:04:01] Badr: And it just kept happening. And we tried to pretend like it wasn't going on because we couldn't figure it out. We had to bring it up at some point. So good to know that, you know, your, your MacBook is so good at spying on you. It knows when you're throwing up a peace sign. Oh, that's, that's, that's

[00:04:14] Chris Hacker: pretty cute.

[00:04:15] Chris Hacker: Outside of the balloons, Black, I just want to say, I, it feels really good to be here finally meeting you, but also being second place to Botter's original plans that he was going to have. I'm glad that we were a good backup plan. I just got

[00:04:25] Blythe Brumleve: back from out of town. I pulled it together to go to the movies with him and do this.

[00:04:30] Blythe Brumleve: I could be sleeping right now.

[00:04:32] Badr: And all it cost us was, you know, just shy of two hours. I'm not even mad about the time commitment for this episode. All right. Speaking about runtime and all of that. Uh, fun fact here, this movie, and this was something I saw kind of celebrated about this movie in the early reviews, was that it was a rather short runtime, I believe it clocks in at around an hour, 45 minutes, if I'm not mistaken, around, around that time frame, which would technically put it, not even technically, it would make it the shortest MCU film of the, I think now 33 MCU films, uh, The Incredible Hulk, And I believe Iron Man number one, uh, both clocked in at about an hour and 52 minutes Avengers Endgame, uh, no surprise here being the longest of the MCU films at 3 hours and 1 minute.

[00:05:20] Badr: And did you know that, uh, so that makes about the average length for all Marvel movies around 2 hours and 12 minutes and I read a stat that if you were to watch all of the MCU films. Just the movie releases from the very first one up until Ant Man and the Wasp Quantumania. It would be a total runtime of 68 hours and 20 minutes.

[00:05:40] Badr: So it would take you about almost three full days to watch all of those movies. Which doesn't sound too bad. I'm not gonna lie.

[00:05:46] Chris Hacker: I can do that way worse time. Yeah. Can I give you the top 5 really quick? Or I guess the low 5 of the MCU. I think I just pulled it up here a moment ago. So you're correct. The Marvels is coming in at number 1 or last place.

[00:05:57] Chris Hacker: Which however you want to say it at 1 hour and 45 minutes. Number 2 was the Incredible Hulk at 1 hour and 52 minutes. Tying at number 2 is Thor the Dark World. At one hour and 52 minutes, number four is Dr. Strange from 2016 at one hour and 55 minutes. And then number five Thor 2011, the first Thor Thor at one hour and 55 minutes.

[00:06:19] Chris Hacker: So a lot of Thor there at the end. And, um, I, I, I don't want to like take over hosting duties here, but I want to ask you guys, cause I have kind of an opinion on this. Did it feel like the shortest of the MCU films?

[00:06:32] Badr: Okay, really quick. This is how I know I'm on a pod with some professional hosts, because that was the exact same question I was literally going to toss.

[00:06:38] Badr: It was like an alley oop, I guess, Chris. Chris just took the ball

[00:06:40] Chris Hacker: and ran with it. We're like, uh, Dwayne Wade and LeBron James over

[00:06:42] Badr: here. That was a good, and you know what, how about we let, let life answer that first. Did, did you feel the runtime? Was it too short? Was it too long? How'd you feel about

[00:06:49] Blythe Brumleve: it? No, I mean, the overall, it felt, I guess, fine as far as runtime is concerned.

[00:06:55] Blythe Brumleve: It, I think the common complaint right now is that a lot of MCU, uh, materials feel too long, too bloated. And this one just felt, it felt like they hit the gas from start to finish. There may be some little gaps in between, you know. I don't know if you want to get into it, but, you know, when they go to, like, the water planet, like, that felt just, like, totally off to me, so that was the only thing that kind of took me out of, like, the all gas no breaks type of mentality from start to finish with this

[00:07:23] Badr: movie.

[00:07:24] Badr: I'll probably echo that and say that the runtime is the least of this movie's problems, and I'm not trying to come off negative so quick, but I think there's way... There's different things you could point at that would, uh, like the Blythe's point that she kind of hinted at. There's certain scenes that take you out of it, and then you kind of start thinking about the time, but I like that they respected my time.

[00:07:43] Badr: You know, like that was a shit. We got home and, and for our listeners, uh, myself, life and Chris have literally just got out of the movie theater, maybe 20, 30 minutes. So this is a very fresh review. So, uh, so bear with us here, but. Yeah, we got home and it's not even like, it wasn't even 10 o'clock, you know what I'm saying?

[00:07:59] Badr: It took me longer to set up than, you know, it took to, I think even watch the movie. What about you, Chris, did, did you feel the runtime? No,

[00:08:04] Chris Hacker: not at all. I mean, I felt like this movie, we, you know, it's probably not any surprise that it just kind of moves at a breakneck pace and we're just moving from the jump.

[00:08:12] Chris Hacker: I mean, from the opening scene, we get to meet our big bad, which, you know, to, I think this is one of the biggest complaints of the movie is. Who, who is she? Uh, firstly, Darbin is her name in the film, but who is she? Zawi Ashton is the actor who plays the character. But like, from the moment we see her on camera, I'm like, okay.

[00:08:31] Chris Hacker: And I've heard the spoiler free complaints about this villain in this film is a very phase one kind of throwaway villain. And I, and I wanted to kind of like, Challenge that as internally, as I went into the film and, and I think that opening scene almost was an affirmed, uh, thought of like, this is definitely going to be, this villain is going to be a placeholder for the overall narrative for the other 3, for Captain Marvel, for Monica and for, you know, Kamala.

[00:08:59] Chris Hacker: So, um, but all that to be said. It goes by very quickly, and I think the only part that felt like it lagged slightly was after they realized that their powers are interconnected. There's a, there's a scene where Kamala's parents go with Nick Fury up to the Saber ship, and right around that time was maybe the only time that I wanted to kind of check my watch or, you know, just like I wasn't fully engaged with the film.

[00:09:24] Chris Hacker: Uh, but overall, like you said, I'm, I'm kind of happy that Kevin Feige and co needed to cost to the director. We're respecting our time with this story and we're we're able to get us in and out real quick with our MCU fix. Chris, just

[00:09:37] Badr: outta curiosity here, what was your, your audience like? What, what was the, the theater, was it packed?

[00:09:42] Badr: Was there like, you know, was it

[00:09:43] Chris Hacker: noticeable? Yeah, it was pretty packed, honestly. So I bought, you know, this is actually a good segue into like a, a bigger discussion, which is that the MCU overall for me has been lacking. And I, and I hate to say that because I am a, I've been there since Ironman 2008, and I, I've watched every film in theater since then, and it used to be this fun.

[00:10:01] Chris Hacker: So we're of adventure to try to get tickets for preview night, right? Obviously we're recording this on Friday, November 10th. So it's. A day after preview night. And I actually want to bring up preview night here in just a moment as well, in terms of box office. But when I went to buy my ticket, I bought it at the door.

[00:10:15] Chris Hacker: I didn't even go to like Fandango or AMC app, you know, back in the day, you had to fight for that early screen. And I went to Adobe theater here in Indianapolis. So that's like the premier way to watch it. Either watch it at IMAX or you watch it at the Adobe theater. Do you want a large screen or do you want booming sound?

[00:10:31] Chris Hacker: I chose Adobe and it was, it was. I mean, it was packed, but it wasn't, you know, I was still able to get tickets at the door. So I, you know, all that to be said, uh, it was a pretty animated crowd. Um, I know at one point I heard behind me, these two people fighting because of this, I think there was some, um, there's an Asian actor in this who ends up being Carol's like makeshift husband from the singing planet.

[00:10:54] Chris Hacker: Mm hmm. The prince. Park

[00:10:56] Badr: Seo Joon, I think that's how you say it. He plays Prince Yeon

[00:10:59] Chris Hacker: in the movie. I think he is a very popular actor on the other side of the country, or the other side of the world. And there were some fans of his in my theater. And these two people were fighting during the end credits scene because every time this guy showed up on screen.

[00:11:12] Chris Hacker: These group of girls were like going wild by the time that we get to see the post credit scene, you know, we'll talk about that here in just a bit. I'm sure I just, all I could hear was these two people yapping behind me.

[00:11:26] Badr: Yeah. I would say our theater was, it took a while to get to like a medium. Uh, um, I think occupant, like if about half of it was

[00:11:34] Blythe Brumleve: generous.

[00:11:35] Blythe Brumleve: Yeah. Cause I, I always gauge based on if I can put my purse in the seat next to me. That's a good point. And all of our extra food. I did have a trash seat. Yeah. And

[00:11:43] Badr: I did have a trash seat. That's right. But I will say the folks there did sound like they were having a good time. Like I heard audible laughs.

[00:11:49] Badr: Yeah. Like it felt like, you know, people were, you know, the jokes were hitting for certain people.

[00:11:53] Chris Hacker: So that was, Valani also the most popular person in your guys viewing as well?

[00:11:57] Badr: We literally left the movie and I told her that this movie definitely accomplishes its mission of, of getting her in front of, on the big screen and in front of more people.

[00:12:07] Badr: And especially for folks like ourselves that. That skipped over the Ms. Marvel show. So, you know, I didn't have any point of reference to, like, judge her or, you know, I didn't go in knowing really anything about her show or what transpired. So, this was an excellent introduction to her. Like, I was like, oh, she is just as likable as I heard, you know, the press runs that I did watch.

[00:12:28] Badr: Like, you know, she seems really happy to be like, you know, her enthusiasm is pretty contagious. I think, you know, anytime she's on screen, like, you know, it kind of reminds you of being like a kid again and, you know, being in love with your heroes. And I think that was a bigger theme not to get too ahead, but I think that was a big theme of the movie is like hero worship and, you know, being a role model and inspiration.

[00:12:47] Badr: And I thought through, um, uh, Iman Villani's, um, performance, like that theme was, was very strong.

[00:12:54] Blythe Brumleve: Yeah, as soon as we got out of the movie, I looked at you and said, she's

[00:12:56] Badr: going to be

[00:12:57] Chris Hacker: a star. Oh, yeah. And she loves the MCU. She, I mean, it would be essentially like something, you know, Kevin walking into my house right now and handing me the Spider Man suit and saying, you're Peter Parker for the next six movies, go crazy.

[00:13:07] Chris Hacker: I would immediately hop on social media. Like Iman does. I would be writing a Spider Man comic just like she is with, uh, Ms. Marvel, the, uh, the new mutant. Cause now officially in the comics. You know, Ms. Marvel is an ex or a mutant now as she is also in the MCU. So, uh, yeah, she's very enthusiastic. And I think, uh, as someone who watched Ms.

[00:13:26] Chris Hacker: Marvel on Disney plus, when it first came out, the 1st episode is absolutely a banger. And then the other 5 episodes are forgettable at best. Uh, you know, like, she is very charming, but, and I think her, Side characters, as we've seen in this movie in the marvels, her parents and her brother. And also we don't see her best friends in the, in the marvels movie, but also in the show.

[00:13:47] Chris Hacker: They're all great. It's just, it's the show. It's the show around these characters that are kind of lacking.

[00:13:53] Badr: And I guess the, one of the bigger reason I skipped over the miss marvel show was that. Uh, it just came off like family, you know, like, you know, family sitcom, and I don't really watch those anyway.

[00:14:03] Badr: So, you know, it didn't interest me in that regard, but I will say she definitely, um, was, was the star of the show. If not, yeah, I think it's an easy argument to say she's the star. There was

[00:14:12] Blythe Brumleve: also a lot going on at that time. I think it was also like Game of Thrones was on at that time. Rings of Power was on.

[00:14:18] Blythe Brumleve: So there were a lot of things competing for your attention, and that one just kind of... fell to the

[00:14:22] Badr: wayside for me. I guess speaking of, of audience, you know, I asked about, you know, what your theory was like and what the audience was like, cause I'm looking at the current Rotten Tomatoes score just out of curiosity.

[00:14:32] Badr: I don't think I ever really let any of these scores drive like my opinion or, you know, me, you know, obviously I went and seen the movie anyways, but I'm looking at the Rotten Tomatoes score. Um, at the time of this recording, it's,

[00:14:43] Blythe Brumleve: you know, Friday, November 10th, the Friday of release date. Uh, audience scores is looking pretty, you know, it's 85 percent right now, over 500 plus verified ratings versus the 62 percent tomato, uh, meter, which is about like half of that many ratings.

[00:14:57] Blythe Brumleve: So, you know, this is starting out early. It seems like, you know, audience seems like it, you know, I want to say 62 is failure. You know, that's like. I mean, that's like a mid movie, you know? Better than I thought, honestly. Yeah, much better. The

[00:15:10] Chris Hacker: MCU of yesteryear, your phase 1, 2, and 3, usually sat around anywhere between 70 to 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

[00:15:19] Chris Hacker: Uh, and then it seems like since probably... Um, you know, since the pandemic, I would even say a lot of the television series and the movies have been sitting around that 50 to 60 with your occasional dud like Ant Man and the Wasp, Quantum Mania, which I think was in the thirties. Uh, Black Widow was pretty low as well, if I remember correctly.

[00:15:37] Chris Hacker: So, uh, you know, 60 or what we say it was 80, 81 percent 85, 85 percent

[00:15:42] Badr: for audience

[00:15:43] Chris Hacker: score. I guess. Can I just quickly say, like. Aaron, who is my co-host on the Oblivion Bar, is a notorious, like hater of the first Captain Marvel from 2019. And I'll, I'll be the first to admit that I, I may have looked at that film with rose colored glasses on initially, because I adore the Kelly SKO run from 2012.

[00:16:03] Chris Hacker: The Captain Marvel, you know, this version of Carol that we have in the movies is from Kelly's run from back in the day. And I love that run. So when I saw that first film, I saw so much of that run in that movie and I just, I loved it. Going back and watching it here recently, I feel like it's kind of, um, dampened a little bit.

[00:16:19] Chris Hacker: My thoughts on it, it is kind of a forgettable MCU film. It, it's an, it's a phase one film coming out during phase four. And it seems, I guess, phase three at that time. So we were talking about this before the recording. The phases are all over the place. We don't even know what phase we're on anymore.

[00:16:35] Badr: Listeners, here's how washed I am. I had to literally Google what phase of the MCU are we in? And Google is no help either. You know, it's get, these articles are terrible trying to figure out sometimes the MCU phase timelines. Like a recipe blog. Yeah.

[00:16:48] Chris Hacker: But all that to be said, I had a great time with this movie.

[00:16:51] Chris Hacker: It is silly. It doesn't look great. It's like. Some of the, uh, the errors in this movie, like the, the green screen, a lot of the, a lot of the main complaints with the MCU that we've seen over the last couple of films are still very present. But I think where the movie succeeds is with its main characters with I'm in Valani with Tiana Paris and with.

[00:17:10] Chris Hacker: Brie Larson. I think those three together and individually are really great in this movie. And I, you know, outside of some like thousand yard stares that we get from Brie Larson and outside of some very annoying screams from Ayman Vellani, I think everybody is great in their

[00:17:23] Badr: role. Thousand yard stares describes Brie Larson's acting like pretty perfectly.

[00:17:28] Badr: Cause I was telling him like pretty bluntly Brie Larson in this role. I don't think it does anything for me, actually. Oscar

[00:17:36] Chris Hacker: winning actor, Brie Larson.

[00:17:40] Badr: Fair enough. But in this role, I don't see it. I know, I get it. It doesn't resonate with me, per se. And, uh, you know, like, none of the emotions comes across really well.

[00:17:51] Badr: And I don't know, it just doesn't resonate for me, per se. Don't tell her to

[00:17:54] Chris Hacker: smile. Don't tell her to smile about her.

[00:17:56] Badr: I think if you're going in and expecting, you know, kind of like just outrageous fun, then you're going to get it. I mean, I'm looking at this audience score and you know, the, the icon being like a popcorn, um, a cat or a tin of popcorn.

[00:18:16] Badr: Yeah, this is like a popcorn. Total brain candy. It's goofy. Yo, big time and I'm looking at this critics consensus and um, uh, it's I think I think it nails it for me It says funny refreshingly brief and elevated by the chemistry of his three leads The Marvels is easy to enjoy in the moment despite its cluttered story and jumbled tonal shift I think I would add Jarring too.

[00:18:38] Badr: There's a lot of just jarring moments in it that that took me out and I really There's moments I really wanted to like really like it like when they're bonding together and having that training montage I was in it. I was like, oh wow, this is like kind of deep This is like a lot of fun But then they just had you know, like life brought up the the water planet in the brand musical awful awful Yeah, you know like I guess that's where it comes in the jumbled tonal shifts of this quote It was like those moments that where I was like, all right.

[00:19:09] Badr: All right. Yeah. Okay. Okay. This is This is fun. You know, this is, this is weird. Um, I, I told Blythe in the car that this sits about 65%. I think I'd, I'd give it a strong, like, mid 60. Chris, where, where

[00:19:21] Chris Hacker: are you at with it? Uh, so we're writing it out of, uh, like, if I was giving it a score on Rotten Tomato, that's what we're kind of going for?

[00:19:27] Badr: Yeah, yeah, something like that. Like, out of 100%.

[00:19:32] Chris Hacker: Sorry, can you hear me? Okay. Yeah. I can hear you. Can you hear me? It's weird. I don't know why we're pausing. But anyway, sorry.

[00:19:38] Blythe Brumleve: I thought you, it was like the dramatic long pause.

[00:19:40] Badr: Yeah, I was like, whoa, what's the score, Chris? Um, He's

[00:19:44] Chris Hacker: like, 12. Sorry, I missed, I missed the part. So we're doing this out of the, uh, Rotten Tomato, uh, scoring.

[00:19:50] Chris Hacker: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, um, if we're okay. So I guess the only way the real way to do this is I'm going to, I have to compare it to the original Captain Marvel. So if I was going to give Captain Marvel a score, I would probably give that like a 75 out of a hundred. I would probably give this 70 now I'll say 68%.

[00:20:10] Chris Hacker: 68 percent out of 100, uh, for the marvels, because I think it's just only slightly the fun. The fun parts are much more fun than the original, but I think we are starting to see the serious cracks in the marvel universe right now, like the marvel studios itself is crumbling in a lot of different ways.

[00:20:26] Chris Hacker: This variety, you know, article that we keep referring to, I think was spot on on some very specific points. And I think this movie is a great kind of reflection of that.

[00:20:35] Badr: Okay, well said. Blythe, what about you? What would you rate in this?

[00:20:38] Blythe Brumleve: I would say it was a good escape for a couple of hours, but I'd still only give it like a 6 So Rotten Tomatoes, I guess, 60 percent for

[00:20:46] Badr: me.

[00:20:46] Badr: Alright, so we've given our kind of high level remarks, um, you know, ratings out the way. Let's get into like some of the nitty gritty. Do you mind

[00:20:54] Chris Hacker: if I just pull a quick audible before we get to the end credits? Because we're kind of like at the beginning, like before we start talking about the film. And I want to, I want to briefly bring up...

[00:21:02] Chris Hacker: The box office that that's okay, because I feel like that's like, that adds a little bit of context to where we are at the MCU. So the Marvel's earned 6. 6 million domestically during its preview night. So that was yesterday. Uh, and it's projected to get 49. 6 million domestically. Now that is incredibly low compared to the two, again, the 2019 original, um, at 20.

[00:21:24] Chris Hacker: 7 million during preview night, which it eventually got 159. 4 million in its opening weekend. Compare that we've got the marvels, which is projected to get basically 50 million compared to 2019. Captain Marvel at basically 160 million. That's wild. The, the, the difference is insane. Now there's a lot of things that go along with that.

[00:21:44] Chris Hacker: Of course, Captain Marvel came out in between infinity war and end game. So there's a lot of hype around that. It was during that, you know, great phase, uh, Captain Marvel was a big character. And of course, I think the Marvel suffers because of the reaction from Captain Marvel. Like there's a lot of, I think there's a lot of things going on, not to mention SAG AFRA WGA.

[00:22:03] Chris Hacker: There's a lot of things that like, they couldn't promote this movie until like yesterday, essentially. So, uh, this is the third lowest MCU, uh, opening in the history of the MCU, only ahead of the incredible Hulk at 2 million and it's preview night. And then at 55. 4 million and it's opening weekend. And then the original Ant Man at 6.

[00:22:21] Chris Hacker: 6 and it's preview night. And then 57. 2 million in its opening weekend. Now, my last bit of, my last bit, last little bit of, of, uh, movie money news is that other films with a higher preview night than the Marvels, we have Thor the Dark World got 7. 1 million in its opening night. The Eternals got 9. 5 million in its opening night.

[00:22:43] Chris Hacker: And then, just to put a little cherry on top, we've got Taylor Swift, The Heiress Tour got 16. 7 million in its opening night. So, that's where we're at right now,

[00:22:51] Badr: everybody. You wouldn't be Chris Acker if you didn't mention Taylor Swift, if you didn't drop the Taylor Swift bar. That was good. And, you know, throughout that whole time, I think I changed my mind.

[00:23:00] Badr: Let's, let's save the end credits for, for later, towards the end. And let's talk about maybe other scenes that were most prominent. Obviously, this is very short retrospective, but when you think back to the movie, what is, where does your mind go as far as like standout scenes or most immediate scenes?

[00:23:14] Badr: Blythe, you want to take that? Oh, gosh, that's such a

[00:23:16] Blythe Brumleve: tough question because I feel like it really is just all of the scenes that Kamala was in. Uh, that, that character just really drew me in. I, I kind of have a different opinion than Chris in that I don't think that the three of them had very good chemistry together.

[00:23:31] Blythe Brumleve: I, I thought that Kamala was really the shining star of the three of them and they almost felt. There's a lot of rumors like behind the scenes and that the, the Monica Rambo character and Brie Larson's, uh, did not get along, um, whatsoever and that it was a lot of, uh, you know, sort of fighting between the, or not fighting, um, but just general, uh, yeah, sure.

[00:23:53] Blythe Brumleve: Um, but maybe just like personality differences between the two. And I thought that that was, uh, very evident. Oh, and on screen, and I thought Kamala was really like the, the comedic break. Uh, she was really the, the sentimental break for me. I loved her family. So it was really interesting to hear from the perspective of watching the Disney plus show, because I went into this.

[00:24:13] Blythe Brumleve: Initially worried within the first sort of 2030 minutes that crap. I didn't watch her show. I didn't finish a secret invasion. Is that going to affect my viewing experience here? Because it just I think sort of speaks to the overall marvel landscape that I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to pay attention to.

[00:24:31] Blythe Brumleve: I supposed to watch everything to be prepared for the next thing. And I was initially worried that that would affect my viewing experience. Um, And so all that to say that really any scene that she was in that with that Kamala was in was my, I thoroughly enjoyed, uh, her family for sure. Um, but then everything else, you know, Samuel L.

[00:24:51] Blythe Brumleve: Jackson, I kind of made the comment to you that he's just collecting checks, kind of like Harrison Ford, totally respect it. Um, but a couple of his like one liners and, and, and scenes in that I thought were very good. Uh, but I would say Samuel L. Jackson and Kamala Khan really just saved it for me for this movie.

[00:25:08] Badr: Samuel Jackson, they're like, Hey, when this movie needs a little edge, let's bring Nick Fury in. So he can say, you know, shit twice at least and like shoot people, you know, like he's, he's definitely the edge. I think I missed the days when we only saw Fury for like 10 seconds in the, you know, in the movie, like having the mysteriousness to him, you know, that espionage angle, we're putting together a team.

[00:25:29] Badr: Yeah. No, I kind of missed that. Now he's like very apparent, you know, face front. And I think ever since he's

[00:25:33] Chris Hacker: like, he's like Pappy that hangs out in the background, just shoots people. Oh, Papi's all along for the ride.

[00:25:39] Badr: Yeah, he's that, he definitely brings the edge. Uh, you know, like that adult humor. You know, um, but I would say the most, the scene that is living on my head rent free right now.

[00:25:49] Badr: Is maybe not my favorite scene, which was that training montage, but maybe the weirdest scene I've probably seen in an MCU film, which was their big escape plan, which was to have all of these sciences or everyone on board get eaten by baby alien kittens. Hated it. Flurkins. Yes, thank you, Flerken. It's not Baby Kittens, but I should put some respect on the alien's names.

[00:26:12] Badr: You better

[00:26:12] Chris Hacker: put some respect on the Flerkens, okay? They'll eat you. They'll

[00:26:15] Badr: eat you. You better put some Flerken respect on these Flerkens. But it was just really fucking weird. I was like, this feels like it. This was a Guardians of the Galaxy throwaway gag or scene that they were like, hey, let's recycle that, you know, like this, this probably would have fit better in a James Gunn movie where it's, you know, pretty, you know, outlandish and wild, but I think even he would be like, nah, this, that sounds like a pretty terrible idea to like this, and they spent so much time on it, and I'm like, man, for a movie that doesn't have that much runtime, we're spending a lot of time on some really wacky, goofy, You know, the stakes didn't feel that high because it was so goofy in the middle of this escape scene.

[00:26:54] Badr: It kind of just like took me out of it. I was like, man, this is really weird. This is like weird.

[00:26:59] Chris Hacker: You just described the MCU in a nutshell because anytime they have a moment where the seriousness, a serious moment presents itself, they have to undercut it with some comedy somewhere. And that's essentially what they did.

[00:27:09] Chris Hacker: And that's because I think in that moment, they had the kind of come to come to Jesus moment with Monica and Carol, right? That was around that time where they had, they had to kind of come to come to, um, grips with the fact that Carol did come back to earth at one point while Monica was blipped during end game.

[00:27:27] Chris Hacker: So they were kind of coming to with come to grips with that. They were kind of planning. They went to that singing planet. A lot was it? Alonda. So a lot of things happening all at once and yeah, it felt like they needed to get the kids back on board with a funny cat, cat montage. You know

[00:27:42] Badr: what? And I, I guess I can go ahead and say this because it's a pro over here.

[00:27:46] Badr: This movie made me think that Marvel was trying to pander to too many people, like, was trying to, like, cater to too many people, like, they wanted, like, the family, you know, like, make it a family movie, make it a sci fi movie, make it, like, you know, a redemption for the Captain Mar like, it was almost too much.

[00:28:04] Badr: In one movie with not enough like runway to do all of that like really well and some of the just the scenes that we decided to like stay on for a good bit just was really interesting and like I go back to jarring that was just a really jarring scene

[00:28:19] Blythe Brumleve: wasn't the director I think I'm blanking on her last name but Nina

[00:28:23] Chris Hacker: need Acosta

[00:28:25] Blythe Brumleve: didn't finish the film.

[00:28:27] Blythe Brumleve: And Kevin, Kevin Feige stepped in and she was even, she had interviews where she said this, this, this Kevin's film and she didn't even stay around to promote. Like, she's already in another city, like filming a new movie and she didn't stay to finish this one. So it felt very much that was evident in the end result.

[00:28:43] Blythe Brumleve: Well,

[00:28:43] Badr: I, I, I think the shooters in bail, I. I've, I also understand that Marvel tends to do that too, like that's kind of like the norm where it's like you get your movie to a good stopping point and you do start working on your next project, and I heard her say in an interview to her defense, or in her defense, she said that, you know, when she left to start the other movie, The Captain Marvel movie, like, everyone knew the vision, knew the plan, like, you know, had very clear instructions on, you know, what to do in post credit.

[00:29:10] Badr: But it was also

[00:29:10] Blythe Brumleve: delayed twice, so how long are you supposed to wait around for Disney to make these kinds of decisions? Yeah.

[00:29:16] Chris Hacker: Well, and, and this kind of brings up a larger point in terms of, like, Bar, you mentioned a moment ago about, like, who are they trying to please here? Is it everyone? Because then that's when you're going to please no one.

[00:29:25] Chris Hacker: And that's, I, and again, I think that's a good kind of an analysis of the MCU since post pandemic, since Endgame, really, is that they're. They're shooting their net too wide and, and it seems like the people who were on board and who were going to these movies, uh, are no longer invested anymore. And again, I think, uh, you know, of course, we're talking about this literally within hours of seeing it on the second day.

[00:29:47] Chris Hacker: So we're clearly still in this somehow, but like there's. There's something to be said again about, about the box office. We were just talking about a moment ago about how, you know, the original captain Marvel, that's not a great example again, because we were like mid infinity war slash end game. So people were very much invested in not only captain Marvel, but the MCU.

[00:30:04] Chris Hacker: But like, I still think that if you look at it, the fact, the fact that the Marvels is the third lowest opening weekend overall. Is wild compared to its predecessor, which was a billion dollar movie. Like Captain Marvel is one of like seven MCU films that hit a billion dollars. So there's, there's something.

[00:30:23] Chris Hacker: Missing again, that variety, uh, article that people are, are kind of, you, you alluded to it in your last episode, bought her here on the short box that like, how much of this can we take for, you know, for verbatim, like some of this is speculation. Some of it isn't of course, but. Um, I, I, I'm kind of spinning my wheels because I was thinking about what my scene was during this film and I think it might be when they first discovered that their powers are entangled and you have that Skrillex ratatat song playing in the background and I thought it was fun.

[00:30:56] Chris Hacker: Like specifically, and I know we keep. Harping on this, but like Ms. Marvel, Ima Valani, really showcasing what she can do here with her powers, uh, you know, of course in the comics it's her embiggen powers, but in this she has like light based powers. And I'm not mad at

[00:31:08] Badr: the light based powers. I know like there's a lot of some fanboys that were like upset about the change, but it still looks good.

[00:31:15] Badr: They're still able to accomplish what she can do. I mean, yeah, the look looks vastly different, but I thought the execution, you know, she's still doing the same thing. She's throwing big fist punches. Now she can also like create those little steps. I thought, yeah, it was cool to watch her powers as a first timer, like really get to see it like in motion.

[00:31:31] Badr: I was like, Oh, this

[00:31:32] Chris Hacker: is not bad at all. They're separating her from Reed. Of course. I think that's like the main, I think that's something that a lot of people are kind of privy to is that we're going to be getting the Fantastic Four here in the next couple of years. And of course, he has a very similar power as, you know, uh, Kamala Khan.

[00:31:46] Chris Hacker: So what I, let me ask you this, um, before we move on, I'm curious because talking about this scene where again, we had the Skrillex track in the background and they're all kind of figuring out how are there, they keep using their powers and they keep switching in between each other. For everyone who watched Seeker Invasion, which I'm talking to all nine of you right now.

[00:32:04] Chris Hacker: Isn't it wild that Nick Fury is just like totally happy, totally cool after the events of Seeker Invasion? Like, did that happen? Like, what are we doing

[00:32:14] Badr: right now? That's a good point because before the movie started, Blythe had turned to me and said where, where is this at in the timeline? And I could not, and I think this maybe more so speaks to my, uh, whatever you want to call it, this interest in, in keeping track of it all anymore.

[00:32:30] Badr: Like, you know, what I used to. Because I, I don't really know where this movie, I can assume this is like supposed to be the current latest timeline, but I'm not really that confident. I don't know how, like to your point, where Secret Invasion

[00:32:42] Chris Hacker: fits in. He lost Maria Hill. He lost his best friend, his best skull friend, and his, uh, surrogate daughter hates him, and he lost his wife.

[00:32:51] Chris Hacker: Now he's just chillin up on the, uh, on the saber ship again, you

[00:32:55] Badr: know what I mean? This is how he hides his pain, he hangs out with, you know, uh, 300 year old scientists, uh, uh, astronauts. Did

[00:33:02] Chris Hacker: he get himself a new, uh, scroll boo? You think? Possibly.

[00:33:05] Badr: I wonder. Possibly. Those

[00:33:07] Blythe Brumleve: two characters I don't even think got their name.

[00:33:09] Blythe Brumleve: I was, I remember thinking like, I don't know any of these characters names from the villain. I know you said, Chris, you said the villain. Which I

[00:33:15] Badr: think is a very forgetful, that's a terrible name. You know, like, I think as soon as I heard her name, I was like, forgetful villain. I will

[00:33:21] Chris Hacker: not remember this. I'm gonna look it up later.

[00:33:26] Badr: Can I also say that what an interesting time for this movie to come out. And for some reason I could not. Not hone in on the word entanglement and not think, you know, Jada and Will Smith. I'm like, man, if they would have just released this movie when it was supposed to come out. Keep my wife's

[00:33:43] Chris Hacker: name out, Joe.

[00:33:46] Badr: If they would have dropped this movie when it was supposed to come out, they could have like got ahead of the whole entanglement now being tied to those fucking weirdos, you know? Uh, so just a little thing I noticed.

[00:33:56] Chris Hacker: Well, speaking of names really quickly, before we move on, I want to just quickly bring up that during the credits, when I was waiting for the in credit scene, they were showing, you know, they always have like the animated in credit scene, uh, during that or no, I'm sorry.

[00:34:07] Chris Hacker: It was actually, it was afterwards. It was after the mid credit scene. They kind of go down the line really quickly. And one of the actors are one of the characters in the film is Gore. Door, door G. And I remember thinking, who is this? Like, what, how do I know his name? And he's the emperor. He's like the leader of the scrolls on that planet that eventually gets sucked up into, you know, the, uh, the, uh, not the water.

[00:34:28] Chris Hacker: It's the, uh, air, the air that they, that, um, uh, dark. Then

[00:34:32] Badr: she takes the atmosphere from their, uh, refugee planet.

[00:34:35] Chris Hacker: And I'm thinking like, who is, who is this character? Cause he looked, the name sounds familiar. And I looked it up afterwards. He's the guy who creates the super scroll in the comics. Now, obviously, I'm sure that's, that's not what happens in the MCU because that was secret invasion.

[00:34:48] Chris Hacker: But like, I just thought that was really interesting that they brought him into this movie. And he was the one who created the super, the super scroll program in the, in the comics. Chris, that is such

[00:34:56] Badr: a, a, a comic book deep cut. I wish I had the Homer soundbite nerd. Nerd! Alright, so we just talked about the most prominent scenes that, you know, we're still in our head after this viewing.

[00:35:10] Badr: Let's get into some positivity. What are some of the highlights? We've spoken at length about Iman, uh, Velani. I want to, you know, let's play the name game. I'm sorry. I'm kind of shifting really quick people. Let's play the name game and I'm going to name some of the characters and just tell me what, what scenes come to mind, any words or, or commentary.

[00:35:27] Badr: We've spoken at length about Iman Valani. Uh, let's go to, uh, uh, Monica Rambeau. What, what scenes or, or words that you got for Monica? Not very much, apparently.

[00:35:39] Chris Hacker: Beautiful. Tiana Paris is stunning. I'll say that. Okay. Yeah, I feel

[00:35:43] like that's kind of a cop out. You

[00:35:45] Badr: know what? I've got one. I've got one. I've got one.

[00:35:48] Badr: I guess I am just going to skip forward to the end scene. But her waking up and seeing her mom. And you know what? That scene there reminded me of episode WandaWandaVision. How fucking crazy that episode was. Focusing on her waking up. You know, post, you know, coming back from the blip, you know, she just missed, you know, uh, her mom dying.

[00:36:06] Badr: So that payoff was pretty cool to see, you know, and I thought she really acted her ass off in that moment. That was really believable. Um, and also, and I guess this ties into, uh, maybe a highlight for me, which was that kind of training montage, but when Carol Danvers, Monica and Kamala both have that memory thing hooked up together, I thought that was a really cool way of kind of telling you how they're all connected by showing you.

[00:36:31] Badr: And I was like, yes, finally, like more show. She's telling Carol like, Hey, I don't want to see this. Like, I don't want to see your moment with my mom, the last moments of my mom through your vision. I thought that was a good way of showing that friction, uh, between them. Uh, Chris, aside from, uh, the actress being stunning, any, anything you want to add about Monica before

[00:36:48] Chris Hacker: I move on?

[00:36:49] Chris Hacker: Yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to set my male gaze aside for a moment and also say that, uh, Monica, I think her role on the team of, you know, again, they even, can I, I'm going to say a brief gripe and then I'm going to talk about Monica anytime that a movie says the name, like, you know, like Will Smith. So what are we as some kind of suicide squad or something, you know, that's what she does.

[00:37:11] Chris Hacker: I actually, I know, I think it's, um, it's, uh, Kamala she's like, well, I was like, so we're the marvels. Yeah. Oh, we're a team. Uh, I hate that. But anyway, uh, Monica, I think her role on this team is that she's kind of like the oak tree, you know, you've got, you've got, um, Carol, who is her bravado is just blowing out of the spaceship.

[00:37:28] Chris Hacker: She just believes that she can do everything by herself because she has been for a while. You know, again, going back to that scene in end game, where she's like, Not a lot of planets have the Avengers. I'm all that they have, you know, and she believes that wholeheartedly. She's been alone doing this herself for a very long time.

[00:37:43] Chris Hacker: So, and we see this multiple times in the movie of her trying to take this all on by herself. So she, we've got her on one side. Then we've got, um, Kamala on the other side, who's just fangirling the entire time. And anytime that she's kind of like the, You know, Um, I don't want to say like, yeah, of course, and I don't want to say she's like a damsel in distress, but like, she will often put herself at risk because she wants to help and she's so young and she doesn't understand that her actions have consequences in these moments and it happens multiple times on that Taurax planet that we see the scrolls, uh, So you have both of these big personalities on each side of you.

[00:38:21] Chris Hacker: And it feels like Monica is the only one that's like thinking levelly throughout this entire film. And it's ironic because at the end of the film, she's the one who sacrifices herself in that, you know, and she ends up in the other reality. So I found that really interesting. And she has her kind of like Iron Man moment, which I don't think was earned, but it was still pretty cool to see.

[00:38:39] Blythe Brumleve: How did she get from WandaVision to this role here? Did I miss a big part of that transition? Did

[00:38:46] Chris Hacker: you not see WandaVision,

[00:38:48] Blythe Brumleve: Blythe? I did, and I loved it, but didn't she kind of, what happened after that? That she's now working

[00:38:53] Badr: for Nick Fury? They explained it in the movie, she said that, uh, what she said, that she got, um, Uh, she was earthbound because they wanted to study her powers, and that's how she ended up with Nick Fury or something like that.

[00:39:05] Badr: They explained it in the movie. I didn't, obviously didn't do a good job of catching all of it. But, you know what I'm saying? That was a quick little exposition

[00:39:11] Chris Hacker: line. The end of WandaVision, she meets a Skrull in that theater in, um, at the end of WandaVision, and they, they essentially recruit her to sword or I keep saying saber.

[00:39:23] Chris Hacker: It's sword. I don't know why I keep getting that mixed up, but it is sword. And, um, and in the movie, she says that she wanted to go to space, but like you said, she got kind of grounded here on earth because they weren't going to space anymore. So, uh, I, I think that's it. But again, it's kind of a leap that she immediately starts working for Nick Fury.

[00:39:41] Chris Hacker: It's like Nick Fury, like out with Maria Hill, bring in Monica Rambeau. Damn, you didn't

[00:39:45] Badr: even have a chance to cry. You know, and it is, uh, I guess it's wild to hear that even in the MCU, uh, NASA is having trouble funding trips to the fucking

[00:39:53] Chris Hacker: outer space. Right, where's, where's Elon in this? Universe. Get him, get him involved with, uh, with a sword and, uh, shield.

[00:40:01] Chris Hacker: All

[00:40:01] Badr: right, who else have we got? You know, let's go to the star of the show. Um, standout moments or what comes to mind when you think of Brie Larson in this movie as Carol Danvers? Any standout scenes or moments?

[00:40:13] Chris Hacker: Ironically, she's kind of like the low, she's kind of the low end. Of this team, I think she, she has the least amount to offer because again, she's got that thousand yard stare and I love Brie Larson.

[00:40:23] Chris Hacker: I, you know, we were making fun earlier about her being an Oscar winner because she is, but like, other than her Oscar win for the room, she's done kind of crap movies since then. I mean, I don't think I can't, I can't think of another film outside of Scott Pilgrim versus the world and captain Marvel that she's been like good to average in.

[00:40:41] Chris Hacker: So, um, yeah, I mean, in this movie. She's kind of a vehicle. She's like a, you would have thought that it would have been Kamala being the vehicle for the audience, but it seems like Captain Marvel is kind of the vehicle for the audience. She's kind of along for the ride. It seems like in this movie and, um, she doesn't really have like a saving moment.

[00:40:58] Chris Hacker: She doesn't save Monica at the end of the film. Um, she doesn't take out the big bad. I, I mean, kind of, but the big bag kind of takes out herself. But yeah, it's odd.

[00:41:07] Blythe Brumleve: Right. I think that was quite a sort of the overall storyline with her character as a whole is that she's been sidelined in her own movie.

[00:41:15] Blythe Brumleve: And if you think about the juxtaposition of where she was being positioned in the end game where she was in game, she's the next big thing after end game. And now she's been sidelined in her own movie in a movie that has been delayed several times. And she's not even the star of her own movie. And, and I think, you know, with a lot of like red carpet interviews that she's done, you know, some of the press tours that she did previously with a lot of the Avengers crew, I, I just, it's such an interesting storyline to watch with both her character just in real life and then on screen as well, just how she sort of.

[00:41:50] Blythe Brumleve: Hinged her entire career essentially on this character and now it's what is it for?

[00:41:56] Chris Hacker: Doesn't it kind of seem like Brie Larson just doesn't want to be cat. I

[00:41:59] Badr: was I was just about to say I she did a really good job of convinced me. She's probably done with this and I wouldn't blame her right like She's had to deal with a lot playing this role.

[00:42:08] Badr: I mean, you know, a lot of it just freaking incels. Yeah. A lot of it being from toxic fan base, you know, I'm sure like there's a lot of industry drama and behind the scenes, you know, just not the nicest

[00:42:18] Blythe Brumleve: person either. Like if you saw some of her press runs, like she's kind of a jerk and maybe people just didn't like working with her.

[00:42:25] Chris Hacker: She got that serious RBF for sure. That's, you know,

[00:42:28] Blythe Brumleve: that I was going to say Monica Rambeau's character, you know, that actress, you know, reportedly they, they did not get along on set. And so if it's a lot of issues surrounding you, maybe it's

[00:42:37] Badr: you. I will say she did a good job of passing the torch. And that is, uh, uh, and I think I, when did I say it was a Wanda vision?

[00:42:45] Badr: I had first said, you know, my theory is that they are, this entire phase is. You know, them passing the torch, like, Hey, it's time to, you know, these actors are aging out. They want to do different things, whatever the reason may be. It's time for us to go ahead and bring in the new crop of actors, you know, fresh, young faces, uh, get that, you know, younger target demo.

[00:43:04] Badr: And this is what that movie felt like. It felt like a filler, but also passing the torch. Let's set up, you know, you know, Aman Valani, let's get her on the big screen. Let's get her introduced. You know, I mean, Chris, I'm, I'm right there with you. I felt that Brie Larson was like, let's get this done. You know, like, let's get this done so I can move on from this shit.

[00:43:22] Chris Hacker: Can we hurry up? I got to be on the set of Fast X in the next 10 minutes, guys. I got to cash that check really quick as

[00:43:27] Blythe Brumleve: well. I am curious at what you guys think about, I guess, maybe the tonal shift in Marvel with going to more of the, the Kate Bishop and Kamala Khan who are, they have the humor, they have the personality.

[00:43:39] Badr: Charisma, you know, they've got charisma.

[00:43:42] Blythe Brumleve: But do they have the

[00:43:42] Badr: seriousness? I think they just need to have a serious, um, But I think with the right script, yeah. I think someone like, um, um, Haley, is it Haley Stanfield? Haley Steinfeld. Steinfeld, thank you. Can do it. Kamala, Iman Valani, I'd be curious to see how she does, like, you know, drama and very serious acting.

[00:44:00] Badr: But, you know, maybe that's not her role. Maybe, you know, they, they, they empower someone that does that really well. And maybe

[00:44:06] Blythe Brumleve: that's just the overall shift with Marvel in general. Just lighter funner. Yeah. Lighter funner. Younger. Maybe that's

[00:44:12] Chris Hacker: just what it is now. It's like, uh, it's like Men in Black. Old and busted.

[00:44:17] Chris Hacker: New hotness. Old and busted. New hotness. You know,

[00:44:21] Badr: speaking of Men in Black, big shout outs to Tessa Thompson for a very short cameo. But she decided to show up in her Men in Black costume from the last movie she did. Right? I was like, she showed up in this black and white suit. I think it was

[00:44:33] Chris Hacker: pinstripe.

[00:44:33] Chris Hacker: And also, continuing the fan theory that, uh. Valkyrie and Carol are in a relationship. Uh, yeah, I got a little kiss on the

[00:44:41] Badr: cheek there. I had, I was like, wow, the one scene where Brie Larson like is, has got some sort of chemistry with the other actors. Yeah, you're right. It plays into the fan theory.

[00:44:50] Chris Hacker: Well, okay.

[00:44:51] Chris Hacker: So we were kind of, we were talking about this a moment ago and I want to kind of, I want to keep this conversation going because I don't want to sound like an old comradery. Oh man, back in my day, 2008 phase one was so great, you know, but like none of these newer actors. Minus Tom Holland have the stature of a Robert Downey Jr, a Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth and Jeremy Renner are still kicking right now, by the way, uh, Scarlett Johansson, like these actors could carry a film by themselves now against, you know, Scarlett Johansson, Black Widow.

[00:45:21] Chris Hacker: You know, your temperature may vary depending on how you feel about that film, but like, I think, I'm trying to think like, this has been the biggest issue with the next phase among many issues is like, who is taking the reins, who's taking over the right. Is it Doctor Strange? I don't think so. Multiverse of Madness wasn't that good, if you ask me.

[00:45:42] Chris Hacker: Uh, is it going to be Black Panther? You know, all things considered, I don't think it's going to be, what's her name? And unfortunately Chadwick Boseman is no longer with us. Is it going to be Chris Hemsworth? His last movie was bad too. So, it's not going to be Captain Marvel either because we've been talking about it for the last hour.

[00:45:56] Chris Hacker: So, what do we

[00:45:57] Badr: do here? You know? But Chris Hemsworth is a prime example of An actor who is, I think he has, he's gone on to say, like, I'm ready to do other stuff.

[00:46:05] Blythe Brumleve: He said he won't come back unless there's, like, actual changes to the Thor

[00:46:09] Chris Hacker: character. Yeah, and it's, and also apparently he has some serious, some health issues that he's worried about as well, where, like, his acting in general is kind of at risk at the moment, so I'm sure he doesn't want to waste I think his family has, has, uh, yeah, it's either Parkinson's or ALS.

[00:46:23] Chris Hacker: They put, they put out a whole show about

[00:46:25] Badr: it on Disney plus, you know, like trying to fight mortality, which I'm kind of interested in watching, but yeah, he's, he's got, um, so to Chris's point, like he's, he's got health things that have, I think maybe shifted his perspective and priorities. Um. I got one more character I want to bring up and, you know, kind of interestingly looking at this IMDb, there isn't a lot of like big actors or, or roles in this movie to pick from, even though in my mind, it, it felt like a big cast, but not really looking at this IMDb.

[00:46:53] Badr: And I think the last, uh, actor that I want to hear your thoughts on, uh, was our, Zowie Ashton. Any scenes or commentary come to mind? Very forgettable. I, I, I will say this. The motivation for her, you know, was commendable. And I think if they would have spent just a little more time with her origin, uh, with like, you know, with on the planet of, um, uh, of Hala, like seeing how the, the Kree are living now.

[00:47:24] Badr: You know what I'm saying? They did a very quick scene where, you know, they're all in gas mask and, or mask and, you know, they're afraid to take it off to breathe in the air. But I think really kind of showing us like, That war, you know, because they mentioned the Kree Skrull war, they also mentioned, you know, ever since calling, uh, Carol Danvers Annihilator, which, uh, to go quickly back to Brie Larson and Carol Danvers, that is one thing I will say is that when she talks about, like, feeling bad about being called the Annihilator and, you know, Monica, I didn't want to go back and for you to see me like that, I thought that was maybe the, this most, the best acting we got out of Brie Larson and the, probably the, the one scene where I was like, oh, this is, This is pretty good, like, this is complexity to her character, but um, b b back to Darbin.

[00:48:05] Badr: You know, I, I, I was like, oh, this is a really interesting way of her, like, wanting to, you know, because she didn't have beef with anyone but maybe the Annihilator. I'm sorry, Carol, Carol Danvers. Really, her beef was just with Carol Danvers, but her main focus was, like, trying to restore, like, you know, the planet for her people and for her to be stealing I was like, oh, that's kind of interesting.

[00:48:26] Badr: Like, she's stealing the atmosphere from this one planet, you know, the ocean from this one planet, and then the sun was, was an interesting villain, uh, plan. But I think the execution just felt, I don't know, it left much to be desired because we didn't really get to know her. It was just like, hey, she's bad, she's doing these bad things, and here's her, you know, one line justification.

[00:48:45] Badr: But I, I think if we would have lived with her a little longer, Maybe, I'm giving her a way more threatening name because Darbin just does not strike fear in my heart at all. But she was a badass. When she was a fight, when she was taking them on, all three of them on towards the end, I was like, damn, the violence in this kind of turned up a notch for a second, you know?

[00:49:03] Badr: Like her putting the hammer down on Kamala Khan's head, it was a little like, oh dang, okay, okay, MC, you still got a little bit of a bite. So, that's what comes to mind for me. Uh, do you guys want to add anything about Darbin?

[00:49:14] Chris Hacker: Yeah, I mean, Darbin is one of those characters that in the comics, I know, well, in the comics, him, I know him from Silver Surfer.

[00:49:21] Chris Hacker: He's a big part of, uh, the middle run during the early 90s. At one point, even, Darbin, uh, creates, like, a robotic Silver Surfer and eventually is, like, absorbed into the Supreme Intelligence. It's a very vague memory of reading that story. But, um, you know, in terms of the character in the comic, or, excuse me, in the MCU, Um, I, I want to slightly echo what you said bought her in terms of like her half baked plan.

[00:49:45] Chris Hacker: It seems like her arc is very similar to a lot of, and we mentioned this earlier as like phase one, phase two villains, whereas like a simple conversation with the hero, a 10 minute conversation with, with Carol would have totally avoided all of this. Hey, guess what? I have binary powers. I can restore your son right now.

[00:50:06] Chris Hacker: That is a good point. We're good. All right. Awesome. Uh, so, but of course we can't do that. Right. Cause then there's no story. When Monica

[00:50:12] Badr: mentioned that towards the end, I was like, how long have you been sitting on this information?

[00:50:17] Chris Hacker: You couldn't have mentioned that. What's going on here? Uh, but also I want to, I want to point out as well, Zabi Ashton.

[00:50:23] Chris Hacker: Is engaged to Tom Hiddleston and we just got the finale of Loki season two. So they're having quite the weekend. If you guys haven't seen the ending of a Loki season two, a lot of things happening over in that household.

[00:50:34] Badr: All right. So anything else to add about Darbin? We good on that? No,

[00:50:37] Blythe Brumleve: I thought she was

[00:50:38] Chris Hacker: easily forgettable.

[00:50:39] Chris Hacker: Probably a top, probably a bottom five villain of all time. Or, you

[00:50:43] Badr: could rephrase that as a top contender for most forgettable

[00:50:46] Chris Hacker: villain. She's either the best, worst villain, or she's the worst, best villain. One of those two.

[00:50:52] Badr: It's, you know, clearly this movie was not about giving us an empowering antagonist or, you know, one that we really resonated with.

[00:50:59] Badr: The main job of this, in my eyes, was to pass a torch. to Kamala Khan and Iman Vellana and get her set up, you know, and to maybe wrap up some loose ends between Carol and Monica. And if I'm looking at it like that, then I'm like, all right, mission accomplished. But it wasn't, I don't know, it just, I was telling Blythe this, Chris, I had a moment and I don't think it's because of this movie per se.

[00:51:20] Badr: I think it's just, I've had the MCU on my mind all week for the last two weeks with the Variety article and the last episode we recorded Reggie. It just got me thinking more and more. Is there anything Does the MCU offer me anything at this point? You know, like I have stuck with it, you know, fanatically for the last, and I'm just talking MCU.

[00:51:42] Badr: You know, 10, 11 years, I think going on, you know, going on 12 years now, 13 years now. And it's like, what else can I get from it that they haven't already delivered? And maybe this is where I hop off the train and, you know, catch it when I can. I don't think it's, I think it's safe to say it's no longer a top priority for me.

[00:52:00] Badr: Cause even I feel like. You know, I feel the, the fatigue. Uh, I, I feel the, you know, the, the subpar product endgame was such a good point for me to just maybe hop off and like, okay, what have I, what have I been putting on the, on, on the back burner all these years? What are the, the movies and the other cinema that I've, I've missed out on?

[00:52:17] Badr: I just don't know if the mc has anything to offer me at this point. Maybe other than like, cameos and like, you know, fan theories. And I, I think the end credit scene for this movie. Is a prime example of that, where now we're just kind of getting into it right here. But seeing beast on the screen, I mean, Henry, it was a woe moment.

[00:52:36] Badr: It was an absolute woe moment. It was like, wow, this is, I'm seeing the fucking beast on the screen. And you know, that was awesome, but I don't know if it's worth. You know, it's like, well, what about the movie? You know, like I still want to have a really great experience of the main movie. This is like five, 10 seconds, you know, a minute or two.

[00:52:54] Badr: Like, is it really worth making this, these movies a priority anymore? I was just

[00:52:59] Blythe Brumleve: going to say when I first saw him on screen, it was a whoa moment. But I also immediately went back to WandaVision when we got the Quicksilver cameo, and I was so excited only to have the rogue pulled out from under me. So that was my, uh, after I immediately said, whoa, it was, okay, wait a minute, are they going to pull one over me again?

[00:53:19] Blythe Brumleve: And so it was that sort of moment for me, even though I still thoroughly enjoy, I am an... X Men fan at heart, but I still am like a little like gun shy to be super excited about the X Men entering the MCU.

[00:53:31] Badr: You know, I said last, last episode that in my opinion, the MCU still has two, maybe three really strong, like blue chips.

[00:53:40] Badr: Fantastic Four, X Men. I think when they drop those or we get them on screen, you know, that's going to be in my opinion, like make or break. I think that really could give them a second wind and, you know, get their, like really shift the energy. But after, and once again, it's not because of this movie exactly per se, but just thinking holistically of, of phase four and, you know, just kind of how maybe, you know, lackluster has been, and even like the start of phase five, I won't lie, it got me a little concerned that, yeah, we might, they might still have the X Men and Fantastic Four, but if, if these stories aren't good.

[00:54:13] Badr: Then what's the fucking point, you know? Like, reading that Variety article, you're like, Oh, it's not just, you know, There's a whole gamut of, of obstacles that they still need to, like, overcome, and really at the heart of it it comes down to, like, The script writing, you know, good stories. It don't matter if we get to see Cyclops and Wolverine and fucking Reed Richards, as much as I want to see them on screen.

[00:54:33] Badr: It won't matter if the story is shit,

[00:54:35] Chris Hacker: you know? I think, uh, this is gonna be... Well, oh god, hold on. I'm gonna, I'm gonna quickly take a step back, cause Botter, I hate to tell you this, and I know you already know this, but... You're in it, buddy, you're, you're, you're in the business of comic book podcast. And you're going to be paying attention regardless of whether you want to or not, because I'm in the same boat, man.

[00:54:51] Chris Hacker: I don't, I I've, I've felt the, the decline. Trust me. I think a lot of us have, and I think a lot of us who are truthful with ourselves and with our taste, we know that the product has not been there since. You know, at least consecutively since end game really, honestly, I mean, you got no way home. You've got guardians three and then your, your, your, no, your mileage varies depending on that.

[00:55:13] Chris Hacker: So, uh, all that to be said, um, the MCU, we are at a, we're at a pivotal point in the MCU right now, like, as we're talking right now. The marvels is, in my opinion, where things can change because going into Deadpool next year, because this is the last film we're getting until Deadpool and Loki's over with.

[00:55:33] Chris Hacker: So no more MCU, uh, TV for a while either, you know, Deadpool three, this has been delayed multiple times as well. It was supposed to come out this month. Actually, uh, marvels was supposed to come out during the summer originally. So the fact that Deadpool has been delayed so much. Uh, and now I think Deadpool is even coming out even later.

[00:55:51] Chris Hacker: It was really supposed to come out in May of 25 or 24. Now it's coming out in July of 24. So we've got like six months or eight months now, eight months to wait for the next MCU property. This is the time for them to get their shit together, uh, across the board. And I think that variety article not only sheds light on what has been wrong with the MCU, but it also gives them the ability to go to reflect a little bit and go, okay, first of all, let's stop treating our VFX.

[00:56:16] Chris Hacker: People like hamsters in a wheel. Let's, let's do that. Firstly, can we, um, let's tone down the content. Let's stop putting out three movies and three television series. Um, let's, you know, let's stop having so much micromanaging behind the scenes. Kevin, we're looking at you, you know, so like, Okay. All of these things have been, you know, widely broadcasted over the last couple of months.

[00:56:37] Chris Hacker: I think that if we get Deadpool 3 in November, can we just agree collectively right now with the listeners, with Botter, with Blythe? Let's all just say, Deadpool 3, July 2024, if it's shit... We can hop off the train, but I think that's the time. It's not now. It's not with the marvels. Cause this movie has been done for a while.

[00:56:56] Chris Hacker: Like Blythe had mentioned earlier, this movie has gone through many cycles. So it's like this ant man and the wasp quantumania. Um, you know, these movies, uh, they, they had COVID plus. Every all the other shit, let's, let's wait to Deadpool. Cause I think that might be the key turning point that we're looking towards.

[00:57:12] Chris Hacker: I

[00:57:13] Blythe Brumleve: don't think it's going to happen. I just do

[00:57:16] Chris Hacker: not trust. What evidence has Disney given us

[00:57:19] Blythe Brumleve: that they can take a character that had full creative freedom under Fox to be as edgy as he could be. Now to come over into the MCU with all of their writing all of their VFX at all of the drama within just Disney corporate itself their need to make money for their shareholders and their need to rely on these characters that are just going to Earn a check for them that they maybe don't even necessarily care about.

[00:57:50] Blythe Brumleve: What have they proven? What have they shown that gives? Any fan right now, the ability to trust that they will treat these kind of characters, X Men characters, Deadpool, any of them with respect. I don't see it. I hope for the best, but plan for the worst. That's where I'm kind of at with the entire MCU right now.

[00:58:09] Blythe Brumleve: I realized Disney as a company needs to make their money for their shareholders. And their only reason they're going to be able to do that is with these familiar characters. They're not going to be able to take any kind of creative freedom or creative experiments. I just, I don't see it. I don't see how they're going to fix anything that is just overall wrong with the corporate culture from the top down.

[00:58:31] Blythe Brumleve: It's just, they need to, Disney as a whole needs to entirely clean house and I don't see that happening before Deadpool comes out.

[00:58:38] Badr: Hmm. Strong words. I, I, I think it goes to, I think you can kind of say a little bit of Chris's point, you know, like if depending on how they manage. Deadpool three. I think that will be a good barometer or maybe a final barometer.

[00:58:51] Badr: I'll

[00:58:51] Blythe Brumleve: still see. I say all this. I still see it.

[00:58:54] Badr: Show me Hugh Jackman. God

[00:58:56] Chris Hacker: damn it. Part of the reason why I'm, I'm slightly confident in Deadpool is just because of the wild amount of creative control that they give Ryan Reynolds. I mean, he's, he's proven if nothing else, this will be, this will really show how much Kevin Feige and co are in control of, you know, this universe is if they take away what has proved to be a solid.

[00:59:17] Chris Hacker: You know, success rate with Ryan in the first two films of Deadpool over at Fox, if Deadpool three is shit, we go, okay, Kevin might be time to move on, buddy, or either get your, get, get out of the kitchen or. You know what? That's kind of my thought on it.

[00:59:32] Blythe Brumleve: So and maybe to your earlier point about there's really nothing else going on.

[00:59:37] Blythe Brumleve: So maybe this is Kevin Feige's chance as a creative professional himself to know all of this criticism that's going on and to maybe have a little bandwidth and breathing room to get it right. So maybe that, you know, glass half full, not to be the negative Nancy for the entire show, but maybe glass half full.

[00:59:54] Blythe Brumleve: This is their opportunity to get it right with it. Where the future kind of holds because right now it just feels like it feels like the multiverse. It feels like nothing matters It feels like there's no stakes and they can kind of do whatever they want I think just overall, I don't know if that's a hindrance or a help to what the overall MCU is, is because there was such a clear path of how we got to end game.

[01:00:15] Blythe Brumleve: And now everything just feels so scattered. And you know, I said this earlier, but I don't know what I'm supposed to be paying attention to. And I don't know what matters anymore.

[01:00:23] Chris Hacker: What the, so the downfall of the multiverse saga and black, you kind of sort of, sort of alluded to this is that I'll just say right off the top before I go into my tangent here, the multiverse, I'm done with it.

[01:00:33] Chris Hacker: I'm tired of it. You know, if you guys have seen the end of season two of Loki, I'm really hoping that what happens at the, have you guys seen that by the way? Can

[01:00:39] Badr: I, we, we do plan on watching that this weekend, but. Loki season two is, has been a, just kind of a reminder, or I guess I, it's put me in the same feeling where I'm like, man, I do not give a shit about the multiverse anymore.

[01:00:53] Chris Hacker: The stakes are gone. Like, that's the thing is that, and this kind of alludes to what I really wanted to say was that movies are written in permanent marker. Comics are written in dry erase. So like, when you watch, When you watch John Krasinski's Reed Richards die on screen, when he gets pool noodled, you're like, that's Reed Richards.

[01:01:11] Chris Hacker: He just got pool noodled as did, you know, you've got, you've got professor X getting his neck snapped. You've got like all these are real people in my mind, like, as I'm watching it happen. And I find it really mean what happened in multiverse of madness. Um, if that happens in the comics. My brain goes, Oh, it's fine because not only other multiple versions of read, but they're also there'll be a status quo of that read at some point down the road.

[01:01:34] Chris Hacker: So, like, that's the difference for me. And maybe that's wrong. Maybe that's the wrong way to approach it. Chris, we

[01:01:39] Badr: are entering that the stage of of many comic readers. You know how you start. When you first get into comics, it's the caves, right? You're Marvel, DC, and eventually you grow up, once you have that realization that there is no real stakes, that these characters are, you know, money making machines, um, you know, they're pieces of IP, yeah, you know, like, the amount of control that, you know, certain editors have, and, you know, like, That these characters have to fit in these parameters, that's when you normally start going to other titles, you go to the indie independents, you go into You go over here.

[01:02:10] Badr: Exactly, you know, you go into more like adult comic books that, you know, do have stakes, that aren't gonna, you know, have an ending. I think fans of the MCU are, are, are

[01:02:19] Chris Hacker: realizing that now. You know what's, what, what also is a major difference is that when they started You know, at that time, just Iron Man, they were playing with pawns.

[01:02:28] Chris Hacker: Iron Man was not a household name. He was a, um, like they had one shot to make one decent movie to save their entire company. Like if they had lost, if they, if Iron Man had been a failure, which at that time, I don't know if people know this, but Iron Man was only the eighth highest grossing film of 2008.

[01:02:42] Chris Hacker: It was not even, not even the top five, but they had to just make an okay movie just to keep a flow. And they just kept building and building with these B list characters, Captain America, Thor. You know, all these characters that, but now here's the thing now that they've gotten success and now they're playing with your rook, with your King, your queen, your Spider Man, your X Men, your fantastic four.

[01:03:01] Chris Hacker: Now there's actual stakes, you know what I mean? And if you fail with Spider Man with fantastic four with X Men. You're done. So that's, I mean, that you have, you have nothing to do, but reboot and try again. And that's what they've done. I mean, we've seen it. We've seen how many Spider Man movies over the last 10 years, you know, X Men same thing, Batman is another great example.

[01:03:19] Chris Hacker: Superman there, there's multiple examples of these companies that when they don't make a billion dollars and they're not crazy successes, they just go. Well, it's a char it's a character that people like. We'll do it we'll try again, you know? You know,

[01:03:32] Badr: I was thinking this episode was gonna be a little more uplifting than the last one because I felt like the last episode, the variety article, we were maybe a little critical.

[01:03:38] Badr: We spent a lot of time on MCU. Uh, safe to say, uh, listeners, you got part two of last week's episode. Well, it's very well

[01:03:44] Blythe Brumleve: deserved because I'd struggle with this because I I I wonder... Going back to okay, what is important? What should I be paying attention to? What matters? What's being retconned? You know, for example, like the Loki, you know, the infinity stones in the drawer, you know You're talking for 10 years that those were the most deadly things in the entire galaxy and now they mean nothing and now you're coming into you know, all of these Disney Plus series and doesn't feel like they're spending a lot of time on them and I think back a lot to My uncle who watched all of the MCU movies up until Endgame and then went and saw Multiverse of Madness, didn't see WandaVision and had no idea what was going on, had no idea of the character change that Wanda had made.

[01:04:32] Blythe Brumleve: And so I go back to that kind of fan a lot. The one who's not, who's only going to go to the movies, who's not going to be watching these Disney Plus shows. And what are the stakes? What's important? And I, I don't know that Disney as a company can handle that right now, and I think massively, they made a huge mistake by not taking one to two years off after Endgame and just letting the dust settle a little bit, letting, allowing them to, to gather themselves to develop what is next now.

[01:05:01] Blythe Brumleve: They're sort of scrambling in it and I think that the next few movies really could sort of cement where this genre as a whole sort of, they're at a fork in the road and I feel like they've been at this fork in the road for a little while now and now the stakes in the MCU feel much higher than it does in the actual, I guess, movie universe, if that makes sense.

[01:05:22] Blythe Brumleve: You

[01:05:22] Chris Hacker: laid it out perfectly. I think, you know, the multiverse. It does. It does away with stakes. That's that, that literally, if anyone dies, we can go into another, you know, I mean, we see it in this movie. We see Maria die in this movie. And then bam, at the movie, here's another binary everybody here. She is, you know, like that's what you can do in this current MCU.

[01:05:43] Chris Hacker: And just like in my favorite event comic of all time, which is secret wars from 2015 by Jonathan Hickman and Assad Ribic, the only thing to do with the multiverse, once you've done everything, It's to destroy it, and I hope that happens sooner than later.

[01:05:57] Badr: Alright, how about we end this with, uh, just looking at the future of the MCU.

[01:06:01] Badr: Um, you know, we, we made a joke, we had trouble kind of like honing in on what, you know, phase that we're in, but we are in phase 5. And at the time of this recording, I think a day or two prior to today, there was the announcement that a lot of the phase 5... Uh, planned movies and shows, you know, uh, there was a lot of shift in the schedule.

[01:06:21] Badr: So i'm looking at an article from games radar that I think lays out the most current marvel phase 5 News and chris you kind of hinted at it. We're getting you know, you know one or two Um, uh, movies and shows next year and I've got Echo will come out in January 10th of, uh, you know, of next year, they've already showed the trailer, you know, that's, that's got people talking and we're only going to get one MCU film next year, which is Deadpool three in July, 26, uh, Captain America, Brave New World, Thunderbolts blade.

[01:06:52] Badr: Uh, are for slated for 2025 and we don't have any dates for Agatha Darko Diaries, Daredevil Born Again, or Ironheart. What about the two

[01:07:01] Blythe Brumleve: Avengers movies? Those are not in the next couple of years?

[01:07:04] Chris Hacker: May, May 1st, 2026, and then that's King Dynasty. And then Secret Wars is May 7th, 2027. That feels so far out. So we'll, we'll be in our forties by the time we get to see

[01:07:16] Badr: Sea of Thorns.

[01:07:19] Badr: I am excited for, it's apparent that they are building up, you know, a new generation, a younger team, and I am excited for the next generation of MCU fans to like get their thing, right? Like to get, you know, the characters that hopefully they get to grow with and watch, you know, you know, prosper and, you know, be in, in films and whatever direction they're going in.

[01:07:39] Badr: I, that's how I feel with the MCU is that. You know, there's torches being passed to a new generation and, you know, once again, I think I just got to ask myself, like, you know, am I going to be downed up for this ride every single time? Or is it time for me to just, you know, Maybe like, just take, take a more of a step back.

[01:07:54] Badr: I think that's where I'm at right now, but I am excited to watch and see how this new generation takes, you know, um, you know, how they take like this new, the new faces for the MCU so far, like, it's a very promising lineup from, from Amman to, uh, Kate Bishop and, um, uh, even Shang Chi, you know, like Shang Chi, I really enjoyed too.

[01:08:14] Chris Hacker: Catherine Newton as Cassie, as Cassie Lang is good as well. Yeah, I'm excited

[01:08:19] Badr: to see where they go with the new faces. I didn't

[01:08:21] Chris Hacker: really like her. Blythe's like, nah, nah, Cassie ain't it. Kamala

[01:08:24] Blythe Brumleve: Khan, Hailee Steinfeld, I, I like both of them a lot.

[01:08:28] Chris Hacker: Where's your, what's your temperature with America Chavez or where you at with her?

[01:08:33] Blythe Brumleve: What, what's her old girl from? Black Widow. Yeah, for Black Widow. I do really like her as Florence.

[01:08:38] Badr: Yeah, they got some badass women like, uh, for this like next phase, like some really charismatic, talented, like. Young women like coming up young actresses like coming

[01:08:49] Chris Hacker: up. Yeah, who's even the young like who's the young man?

[01:08:52] Chris Hacker: I'm saying when

[01:08:52] Badr: I'm like, I don't think he's that young.

[01:08:55] Chris Hacker: I don't think Simon lose John. She would be an Avenger he wouldn't be a young Avenger

[01:08:58] Badr: a champion, you know, it'll be up to Tom Holland and Simon Lou and Anthony Mackie, I guess to hold it down, but they're a little bit but

[01:09:05] Chris Hacker: Well, Dr. Strange is still around and yeah, yeah.

[01:09:08] Chris Hacker: All right. Can I just say before, before we move on, I just want to say very quickly, I can sit here cause I'm, I'm in the same boat as you bought her and, and Blythe, I'm assuming you're in a similar boat as well. Uh, yeah, my, my enthusiasm for the MCU is definitely at an all time low, I would say right now, which really stinks.

[01:09:24] Chris Hacker: And we're going to be doing our review, you know, for the, for the marvels on the oblivion bar this week as well. And I plan on going in on this film, even though I enjoyed it. I think there's a lot of issues with it. Uh, I can sit here and tell you with all sincerity that I, I don't feel great about it, but the moment that I get even the smallest whiff of silver surfer showing up in this, in this universe, I am fucking in, man.

[01:09:47] Chris Hacker: I am in, I take

[01:09:48] Badr: it back, take it back. Give me

[01:09:50] Chris Hacker: Dr. Doomer, silver surfer. And I am the biggest MCU fan again.

[01:09:54] Badr: All right, but have you got any closing remarks about the movie or just MCU in general?

[01:09:59] Blythe Brumleve: I think I'm just kind of at the phase where I just understand that it's just going to be a couple hours of escapism, but it's not going to be something that I rewatch.

[01:10:10] Blythe Brumleve: And that's where I kind of struggle with, like, MCU stuff is nowadays, like, is it okay to just kind of escape for a couple of hours and just be done with it? I think, absolutely. Does it need to be something that I dive into Reddit immediately after and watch all of the YouTube videos like I have in the past, which I really, really enjoy, but maybe it's just okay to just escape for a couple of hours and be fine

[01:10:33] Badr: with it.

[01:10:33] Badr: That is absolutely, you do deserve it, right? Like, These movies can coexist with like, you know, your fucking Martin Scorsese movies, right? Like, they can co exist with other genres. Like, it's fine for them to be popcorn, you know, turn your brain off movies. Well,

[01:10:48] Chris Hacker: you know what's funny is that, um, the last two movies that I've seen is Killers of the Flower Moon and then The Marvels.

[01:10:52] Chris Hacker: So, I am riding that Marty train right now. And, um, I want to briefly say, yeah, I mean, too much brain candy is definitely a bad thing, for sure. Um, I'm still in, guys. I hate to admit it, but I'm still drinking the Kool Aid. We got a job to do, Chris. I'm telling you, we're Botter, you can sit here and you can lie to the people all you want.

[01:11:10] Chris Hacker: You're going to be watching these movies and television series. Chris,

[01:11:13] Badr: Blythe, I appreciate the both of you spending time with me on this episode. We went a little longer than I thought. I was like, you know, we'll be courteous. We'll record It's already like 1230. It's already Saturday night. Or morning, whatever, however you want to see it.

[01:11:25] Badr: But regardless, I appreciate the both of you a lot. I'm going to have links to, uh, both of, uh, you know, your Twitters, your socials and the show notes. Chris, I have a link to the oblivion bar podcast. People can check out, uh, you and Aaron's, uh, Marvel's review, uh, life. I guess if anyone listening is interested in logistics and trucking and marketing.

[01:11:43] Badr: They can check out your show. Don't laugh, it's important. No, I think there's a lot of crossover appeal, all right? You know, look, if anything, the fans would be like, Yay, another Blythe episode! You know, so, we

[01:11:52] Blythe Brumleve: gave them something. Well, uh, really quick plug for just supply chain and, and transportation and freight and all that good stuff.

[01:11:58] Blythe Brumleve: I'm really high on it because it, It is the story of human civilization. So it's the story of how our, our purchasing behavior influences the rest of the world and geopolitics and all that good stuff. So, I mean, if you like the greater, like MCU stuff that's going on, then maybe you'll like real

[01:12:13] Chris Hacker: world stuff too.

[01:12:14] Chris Hacker: But that's all, that's all nice and cool. But if you want to dopes, talk about Moon Knight, come over to the Evolvian Bar podcast, new episodes every Monday.

[01:12:22] Blythe Brumleve: I did really like Moon Knight too. So.

[01:12:25] Badr: I don't even want to keep us on for a little long because I'm about to go into some Moon Knight stuff, but anyways.

[01:12:30] Badr: Listeners, there you have it, Shortbox Nation. That is our show for today. Thank you for hanging out with us. Uh, we really appreciate you spending your time with us. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a very, very, very small favor. Please leave a five star rating review on Apple podcasts or Spotify, or simply tell a friend about this show.

[01:12:47] Badr: All right. Word of mouth and ratings and reviews. They help us out in a major way. I know every podcast asks you to do that, but there's a reason why all of them do it, it, it doesn't require much in your part and it goes a long way in helping us grow this show. Um, if you'll stick around for another minute, which I highly encourage.

[01:13:03] Badr: You'll hear a short clip from Jerome Kabanatan, the creator of a brand new Kickstarter campaign that just launched. It's called Everyday Black Belter. It's a collection of comics from the mind of a martially artistic family man. It's also the inaugural start of a brand new segment that we're trying out.

[01:13:19] Badr: Um, I haven't really landed on a name yet. I'm kind of hovering around kick ass Kickstarters. But the goal is to put a spotlight on up and coming indie creators and really dope comic projects that you can find and back on Kickstarter. Alright, uh, the Everyday Black Belcher will be linked in this episode's description and show notes.

[01:13:35] Badr: So if it piques your interest, check it out. Support. Big shout out to Jerome. Besides that, you can catch us next Wednesday. for a brand new episode and or and or you can join us over on patreon if you want bonus content extra episodes Uh full disclaimer It's not free But it's also not expensive at all to support the podcast and get extra perks and rewards And we really try hard to make it worth your time and support so consider joining our patreon community at patreon.

[01:14:02] Badr: com slash the short box Or support us for free by, like I said, leaving a rating, review, or telling a friend. In the meantime, enjoy hearing from Jerome. Take care of yourselves. Go read your comics and continue to make mine and yours short box. I'll catch you next week. Peace. What up short box nation. This is your boy Jerome Kabanatan and I'm here to talk to you about my Kickstarter for my latest book, Everyday Black Belter.

[01:14:28] Badr: This graphic novel is a rhapsody of comics from the mind of a martially artistic family man. That's me. It contains a variety of strips. From parody to auto bio to action to martial arts philosophy and everything else in between all weaved into a narrative about the work life balance of a martial arts instructor and cartoonist and father and husband.

[01:14:46] Badr: So, uh, if you like comics, cartoons, hip hop, martial arts, sketch comedies, and I know you do, Everyday Black Belter is for you. So you back that on Kickstarter one more time. Everyday Black Belter by Jerome Kabanatan. So back it again and again and oh yeah, again and again.