Superman just saved comic book movies. We're here to talk about the film, how it relates to the rest of the DCU, how it might even have some effects on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, all that and more on an all new episode of Unbinge starting.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:Friends, family, folks who are watching, this is a spoiler review. If you haven't seen the movie, watch the movie, then come back here and check it out. But we are gonna talk about all sorts of spoilers for everything related to James Gunn's DCU and all of the Superman movies.
Alfredo Brown:We all got to watch this beautiful, beautiful movie, Superman. And I've let's just go around really quick in just a a quick just feedback, almost like an out of theater reaction, but not really because it's not out theater. How did everyone feel after this? Vague, you're here for, like, the first time in a long time. How did you feel after watching Superman go?
Alfredo Brown:I felt outstanding.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:This was our you know, we had a whole episode on this. This was our most anticipated movie of the summer.
Alfredo Brown:We were Okay. Next.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:Worried that they could mess it up, and they did not. It was great. That was rude. I hate you.
Alfredo Brown:Nice. Sam, go.
Samantha Holt:It was a lot of fun. It was I think I think I was I didn't want it to not be good, but I didn't expect it to be this good and this fun and the writing to be as amazing as it was. So I was pleasantly surprised and, like, I'll probably go see it again.
Alfredo Brown:Gough, get in there.
Matthew Kopfhamer:It's fantastic. Loved it. I'll see it several more times in theater.
Alfredo Brown:We can't use the word fantastic that you're gonna be hearing from Disney lawyers. Scott Jagger.
Matthew Kopfhamer:It was incredible.
Jagger May:No. F Worst. Terrific was right there. You stop stop fucking with Disney, and that's why I'm gonna use a different f word. It's this movie fucks.
Jagger May:That's the one word Disney
Alfredo Brown:won't use. It fucks. Let's go. This, Superman was such a great movie. I I think we're gonna be talking about that.
Alfredo Brown:Like, let's just we set the table. We all like the movie a lot. Let's talk about the ins and outs of it and what this really does for the universe. I don't think you wanna sit here and listen to us for, like, forty minutes just be like, it was a great movie. We loved it.
Alfredo Brown:Like, no. Let's get into this why it's so good. The the question that we pose and and what we talk about in the title is that Superman, maybe even James Gunn, has just saved comic book movies. And what I wanna ask is just, Jag, how? How does this save comic book movies?
Alfredo Brown:Because it really feels like the love is back for these films. I'm excited to go back to the theater to see a superhero on a big screen again.
Jagger May:As resident comic lore master. I think James Gunn just read a comic. I know that's wild, but, like At least one. At least one. It shows, man.
Jagger May:That that's what's crazy is a lot of people, they either maybe have picked up one like Batman guys. Everyone has always picked up the long Halloween. They're like, alright. We're done. I know Batman.
Jagger May:But this is someone who understands the DCU, has read other things like Supergirl, Women of Tomorrow. If you've read that, there's already care for that movie in this movie. And he just made it fun. He didn't make it I wanna say, like, sometimes with Batman, it's kinda fucking depressing even though I like it, you know, and you don't see how it fits anywhere else. We had a whole episode of how Batson could fit here.
Jagger May:But now with Superman, there's hope, there's depth. Like, everything that James Gunn has said, he's delivered on a on a promise, and he's done that without making the common mistakes or not setting themselves up with the mistakes that Marvel finds himself in now.
Alfredo Brown:Vic, do you think this could actually be the blueprint for comic book movies going forward? Maybe, like, a a step away from this hyperrealism that we got into for so long where we didn't try to make a character necessarily relatable. We tried to make an entire universe relatable. This seems to be such a step in the other direction so far away from man of steel, so far away from what Marvel has done to, like, hey. We're gonna paint this with pretty colors.
Alfredo Brown:We're gonna lean into the goofy. We're gonna lean into the comic book aesthetic of it that I don't really remember the last time we got that. Maybe Deadpool and Wolverine might be, like, the one time, and even that was iffy at best.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:Yeah. I don't know if this is the blueprint for all comic book movies, but I think that's what makes James Gunn really good. Right? There's a different discussion to be had about whether or not James Gunn is the comic book movie goat. I think he is.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:He hasn't really missed. Yes. But this is a movie that has critic appeal. Like, the critics had given it fantastic reviews. The audiences absolutely love this.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:And I think that he's giving us a good blueprint for how this movie and this universe should be. And I think he's gonna take his own creativity, and he's gonna do different things for different movies. And I think that's okay. But I think that's what I really loved about this movie amongst a myriad of other things is that they really leaned into this being a comic book superhero movie. There's a lot of ludicrousness out there.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:Like, Proton Rivers was, like, wild and look pixelated. And I don't know. Was that, like, were they trying to get the Minecraft audience or the Roblox audience? But it doesn't matter.
Alfredo Brown:Favorite part
Jagger May:of the movie.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:Because it was weird, but it was so much fun. Like, it it that's what I think makes this movie and this universe giving it a lot of potential. I think leaning into what the ridiculousness of comic books and superheroes, and let's be honest, this is not the real world. We don't need it to be hyper realistic. It's part of what made this really, really fun for me.
Matthew Kopfhamer:Gojenko. I
Jagger May:was gonna say, the one comic book anything right now that I think even gets close to removing yourself from a world, and this is a wild comparison, it's The Boys. Because The Boys, that's just like an entirely different fucking world
Alfredo Brown:Interesting.
Jagger May:Where shit just happens. Because the point I wanna I wanna point out is, like, the dimensional imp. That's just going on in the background. Ever since that clip dropped, like, we we talked about this when they teased Guy Gardner, like, months ago on this show. And I was just like, what the fuck is going on that Superman's just chilling out, having a drink with Lois?
Jagger May:And, like, and and when you actually watch the movie, you see that this universe is established. This shit just happens. If you live in Metropolis, Central City, Gotham It's
Matthew Kopfhamer:just another teenager.
Jagger May:Shit Wild shit happens. Go to Smallville, Kansas if you don't want a dimensional hip to, like, fuck up traffic or something. And, like, that's why I say the boys because, like, randomly, they have shit going on all the time. Like like, they're celebrities. They're superheroes.
Jagger May:And I feel like this universe kinda fits that model as well, except there's not blood and guts and, you know, cunt and fucks from butcher all the time. You know? Sorry.
Alfredo Brown:See, if if anything, I look at it a little bit differently. I I I do see the boys as almost still incredibly I guess we're at the point where shady political dealings and crooked billionaires is just kind of real everywhere, and so comic books are going to feel a little bit more real.
Jagger May:Actually, yeah, that's sad.
Alfredo Brown:Yeah. True. So I'd like it there's there's not really that escape from the hyperrealism, but something that I think all of us have said is that it's a fun movie. And Sunshine Sammy, I know you had fun watching this. I know you enjoyed it.
Alfredo Brown:This stuff with James Gunn, the gunisms, if you will, I think a lot of people can kind of identify them now. It's found family. It's a needle drop. It's an animal. It's maybe jokes at the inopportune time.
Alfredo Brown:There's there's a lot of things here. Do you think that the James Gunn stuff can maybe get old in the DCU? Can his style work with other superheroes? Can this Superman work without James Gunn?
Samantha Holt:That's a great question. I feel like it depends on how the dial is turned up and down on each of those things that you just mentioned. So in terms of the use of comedy, in terms of the use of the darkness as well and the villains, like this Lex Luthor was really, really cruel. So just how he plays with those, I think, will, keep interest for audiences across different comic books that you can apply this kind of formula to. But I really enjoyed it for that reason because we haven't had a Superman exactly like this before.
Samantha Holt:We've had some that are funny, that have little moments, and we've had some Lex Luthor that seem unhinged and just depraved. But the volume was turned up on all of those things, and it needed that. It needed that in order to keep your interest throughout the whole movie and not just lean on the crutch that Superman is the strongest. We didn't actually start the movie with that. We saw him losing a battle,
Alfredo Brown:which was kicked.
Samantha Holt:Not getting his absolute ass kicked. We've never started a Superman movie like that where he's at the bottom, and then it gets worse. And then he has to come back up. We've never seen Superman go through that level of struggle. And you're watching him struggle with it throughout the movie with even, you know, what his whole purpose is.
Samantha Holt:So you've got a lot of questioning of personal values here that I think keeps it more genuine while still maintaining the comic book fun level. So it keeps other audience members in.
Alfredo Brown:You say the the personal values thing, and I think that's kind of the first time that since maybe the Christopher Reeve Superman that we've had this hit where it's more about the man and less about the super, and that that is actually the thing that is the thing that buoys him, and and he keeps coming back to that is what are your values as a a human. Right? Like, the whole thing about the parents not being the ones that decide your fate, make your decisions. It's ultimately you. It was was just a big deal for this version of Superman, and you mentioned how, like, it starts.
Alfredo Brown:He's in a battle getting his ass absolutely kicked. We don't get the origin story. I think that was a great decision. Cough. We have seen origin stories done to death.
Alfredo Brown:James Gunn has said, I don't wanna see Martha Wayne's pearls in the floor anymore. We don't need to see Krypton blow up. We don't need to see Peter Parker get bit by a spider. And, honestly, I think for a lot of these, especially a big character like Superman, you just you don't need it. You don't need it.
Alfredo Brown:And it was a great way to set the tone where we see that Superman isn't this overpowered this this overpowered character that is just invulnerable to everything. There have been a lot of complaints about that. Did you appreciate the fact that he can get beat up a little bit?
Matthew Kopfhamer:Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, we're still this is what Superman three years into being Superman. So he's still learning. He's still getting better at what he does.
Matthew Kopfhamer:We haven't seen him get to the pinnacle of his strength and his abilities yet. So he is still very much like where Pattinson's Batman was in the Batman where it's he is learning. He is he is going through those trials and tribulations,
Jagger May:and that's Are you saying they can
Alfredo Brown:work in the same universe? Are are is that what you're saying?
Matthew Kopfhamer:Let's start the
Jagger May:snot snot snot, like, stay on
Matthew Kopfhamer:top of that point.
Alfredo Brown:Anyway. So what was last We did it a little while back.
Matthew Kopfhamer:Yes. We don't a lot of these characters, like you said, the big ones, like Batman, Zoo Man, Peter Parker, we don't need another origin story because we have, what, eighty plus years of history now that we know these characters. Give us origin stories on some of the side characters, like a mister terrific who was literally terrific in this damn movie. Like, he was so good. I wanna see more of him.
Matthew Kopfhamer:I wanna see what what Already talks
Alfredo Brown:of him getting his own show.
Matthew Kopfhamer:Exactly. So I think that's where Oh, riot. We can see we can see a compromise between we don't need origin stories for the big guns, you know, pun intended, but we do need some these we do need some of these smaller characters to be fleshed out in a way that we haven't had a chance to on the screen yet. And I think that goes back to something James Gunn actually said in an interview when he was talking about comic book movie fatigue. He's like, I don't believe that there is comic book movie fatigue.
Matthew Kopfhamer:I think there is fatigue on, like, shitty stories. And that's really where I think he, as the the runner of the DCU in the future, is gonna stand out is making sure that a project doesn't just get greenlit because it has a certain name or IP attached to it. It has to have a script that works and makes sense for the character. And I think that care is what we're gonna see moving forward. And that's what's was gonna be the strength of the DCU is if they present us amazing stories with characters we love, that's a fucking home run every time.
Jagger May:Yeah. And I think James Gunn is doing an excellent job of and, I already kinda said this. So setting himself up to avoid the failures that Marvel already sees themselves in. And, Koff, the the thing you said about these side characters. Like, again, I'd literally just finished the entire run for Marvel of everything that MCUs put out.
Jagger May:And towards the second half, they have a huge legacy character problem or just like a side character problem. In all these shows, they're like, well, here's cousin Biscuit. I don't care about fucking cousin Biscuit. Is there not another Marvel character out there in the thousands of character that you could maybe, like, work in somehow? And it's like, yeah.
Jagger May:Mister Terrific is in Justice League and is adjacent. And but Gunn's already proven with, like, Guardians of the Galaxy that you don't have to have the exact lineup to make things work, and he's doing that now. And the and Superman universe, the DCU's already big. Like, it's already huge. It's like we already got Guy Gardner running a team.
Jagger May:We already know that we we got three lanterns out there. That's just that's just the ones we know about. Like, the earth lanterns is, like, fucking four or five. I got I don't wanna get that that deep and nerdy, but it's already big, so we don't have the problem of, like, Marvel trying to expand and making us care about RieRieRie Williams. And when you already have that room, that naturally leaves room for depth.
Jagger May:We don't have to worry about that shift tone when we go from WandaVision or Agatha when we were used to civil war or something like that. You know?
Alfredo Brown:You you mentioned something there with, like, Marvel doing and I don't want this to be, like, an anti Marvel thing or pro DC thing, but but it it I think it does, bring to light a problem where Ironheart, Riri Williams, was not necessarily a character that we all fell in love with in the movie Wakanda forever. But then Marvel's like, you know what we should do? Let's give her a whole show. And it kinda just became a vehicle for them to be like, let's introduce Mephisto. Spoilers there, by the way.
Alfredo Brown:Sorry. I I like that James Gunn doesn't wanna do that here with the DCU. I like that he basically said, okay. These were the characters that people liked the most already out of these early these early reactions from Superman. Mister Terrific, he might need to have his own show because Eddie Gethegy did a a amazing job with this.
Alfredo Brown:Just an amazing role, which by the I think he kinda displayed, like, how a Batman could work in this, like, just very, like, serious. Maybe a few quips here and there. It's probably not gonna be a Batman thing. But I I think that James Gunn now I think we all agree on this. I kinda wanna talk this out now.
Alfredo Brown:Is James Gunn now becoming the best comic book movie director? Because I think he's really one of the only ones that he doesn't do these as one offs. This is sort of his career now is is the comic book movies and being the head of DC studios. I had some other people on this list, Christopher Nolan, the Russo bros, Ryan Coogler, go back to the Richard Donner, Superman, Sam Raimi, Tim Burton. Like, these are all the other ones.
Alfredo Brown:I don't I don't know that any of them are, like No. At James Gunn's level specifically for comic book movies.
Jagger May:Yeah. Signs close. Christopher Nolan Just the volume. If you call them call this.
Alfredo Brown:Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I don't think I don't think he sees the Dark Knight trilogy as comic book movies.
Matthew Kopfhamer:Here's the thing. James Gunn is one zero one, and then everybody else in that list is so far down, it's not even comparable. Because you go by the volume, the amount of movies that James Gunn has made in this in every single one has been a hit. I mean, I know some people gripe about Guardians three, but I still think that's a a great fucking
Alfredo Brown:Guardians three? No. I hate it. No. No.
Alfredo Brown:I've heard
Jagger May:Adam Warlock. They hate Adam Warlock. That's that's what they're mad about.
Alfredo Brown:I don't know what regions of the dark web you guys are on.
Matthew Kopfhamer:It's it's sad and depressing. Yeah.
Jagger May:It's sad and depressing and Adam Warlock. Like, Adam Warlock fans are really upset.
Matthew Kopfhamer:They're pissed because he's so much different than what the comic version is. But, again, besides the fact
Vignesh Doraiswamy:But I
Matthew Kopfhamer:think just the amount of movies that James Gunn has made in in comic books and the fact that all of them are quality are sets him apart from every single person on this list. Because I think every other person on the list has at least one kinda stinker.
Alfredo Brown:He's even redoing people's movies. Suicide Squad, Superman. He's just like, I'm gonna take this shit you made. I'm make it better.
Jagger May:Mhmm.
Alfredo Brown:Vic, you were gonna say something?
Vignesh Doraiswamy:Yeah. I think, you know, the Adam Warlock thing reminded me of something. You know, he's done a really good job, and and Jagger's mentioned this, taking care of the universe and taking care of people's favorite characters and things that they love. Like, I think he pigeonholed himself into needing to do Adam Warlock because it's, like, Marvel's propensity
Alfredo Brown:to The the I post credits. Yeah. They're stupid post credits.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:Talk about the post credits.
Alfredo Brown:That's why he said he's not doing them anymore.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:Yeah. Mean, well, he did too. Right? But they were nice. They were, like, fun.
Alfredo Brown:Nothing. They were really
Jagger May:they were needing to set
Matthew Kopfhamer:anything up. Yeah. They were just I was
Jagger May:pissed I stayed. I was like, I coulda YouTube that.
Alfredo Brown:He doesn't
Vignesh Doraiswamy:need to set anything up. Right? Like, all the setup and that's beautiful. Think it's all the setup for future movies is in the movie itself. Right?
Vignesh Doraiswamy:When you see when you see Supergirl and you see all the
Alfredo Brown:Well, let's be real. That's the that's the post credit scene. He just put it in the movie.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:Yeah. And I think that's how it should be done, and I think he's learned his lesson. He's like, I'm not gonna do anything unless I know what's gonna happen. I don't wanna pigeon my hole pigeonhole myself into this. He's learned from his life.
Alfredo Brown:Pigeon my hole.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:And, you know, not
Matthew Kopfhamer:just What's for the Internet
Alfredo Brown:of You?
Vignesh Doraiswamy:Brothers. Right? The Russo brothers had a very difficult task with how they had to put together the end of a major phase. And I let's be honest. We who hated that?
Vignesh Doraiswamy:People really liked what they did. But what James Gunn does that is so great is this is a movie for the ultra nerds, the lore masters. Right? He's, like, taking things in from other parts of this universe. If you've seen the Arrowverse or the Flashverse, you see Jitters Coffee, you see Big Belly Burgers.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:You see all these little things, but they're not front and center. They're not so in your face. Little things like he just mentions the hypnoglass. As you see Maxwell Lord and the Hall Of Justice and little things that if you're not a big superhero or comic book fan, that went right over your head. But it didn't matter because there was so much more in the movie for you to still enjoy that you didn't need to know all these things.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:But if you do know all of those things, you're like, this is just what I caught on a first viewing. I wanna go back. I wanna watch it again. So you get the casuals. You get the super nerds.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:You get people who just wanna have a good time at the movie. You want people taking their kids to a summer blockbuster. You get that. And that's where I think he's really found his mark. He adds the right amount of humor, the right amount of, like, everything and puts it together.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:And he I think he's just a really good chef. He really cooks and put these little pieces and creates a wonderful recipe. So going back to your initial question about a blueprint, I think the blueprint is you gotta create a movie that everyone will enjoy. And I know it sounds really stupid, but we have seen Marvel fail to do that time and time again. We've seen DC fail to do that time and again.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:And that's why I really do. I agree with Koff and everybody else. James Gunn is a one zero one, and he's done such a wonderful job. Shout out Mighty Crabjoys, which I didn't think would make another another appearance. They we saw them in Creature Commandos on, like, Frankenstein's little shirt, and now they're back.
Alfredo Brown:Yeah. I you you mentioned that, like, the blueprint is to make a movie that everyone will enjoy. I think there needs to be more tact than just simply doing I mean, no. But, like, that's like in in fantasy football when we say draft good players. Yes.
Alfredo Brown:But there's, like, there's more tact to that as well because sometimes these studios get into the let's hit all four quadrants, and the movie just kinda sucks because it doesn't have direction. Right. I think what James Gunn did here was he said, okay. This is the direction I wanna go with this character. And I'll say this.
Alfredo Brown:Like, I don't think everyone's going to enjoy this movie. There's a lot of people saying it's a little too goofy. Overwhelmingly, though, the sentiment is that it's a it's a great film. I I what what I wanna do here, let's get into the characters because I think that as we talk about each of the characters in this, we're gonna get let our feelings out about this movie. Sam, let let's start with you because Superman, David Kornsweat, this was a guy I think a lot of people were nervous about.
Alfredo Brown:Like, could he could he handle the trunks, so to speak, of it all? And then everything we saw from the trailers, we kept getting more trailers, and it kept being like him in, like, high pitched voices. Yeah. Like, I'm doing important stuff down here and then getting beat up by crypto, and you're just kinda like, ah, this is star lord Superman. How did you feel about David Korn sweat Superman in this?
Samantha Holt:I liked it. I didn't feel like he was necessarily Star Lord Superman. I feel like he was kind of back to what we were saying earlier. He's three years in Superman. He's still figuring stuff out, but it's believable in terms of him being believably strong, having all these powers, having control over these things.
Samantha Holt:So there was a certain level of, I don't know, Superman etiquette that I appreciated. They hit on everything. So we did get a lot of the powers from start to finish. In terms of his interactions with, like, crypto, I felt like that was also really funny, and I didn't really get why this dog was so misbehaving and so terrible until he's like, well, he's a foster situation. I'm like, well, then why is he saying he's not his dog?
Samantha Holt:That didn't make sense. And I loved the tie in at the end, which made everything kind of cool together. No. That was pretty funny. I kinda like that.
Alfredo Brown:Supergirl came off the bench and hit five threes and just went right back to the bench. It was great.
Jagger May:I'm beyond that for Supergirl. Sorry, Sam. Go ahead.
Samantha Holt:Yeah. No. She's gonna be great. But, yeah, in terms of how I felt about the Superman, I think I hold Superman really close to the heart. I've always loved every Superman, even Christopher Reeves Superman for all that he is with his silliness and playfulness.
Samantha Holt:It wasn't a huge Brandon Routh, you know, truther. But for me, obviously, you guys know me pretty well. Henry Cavill is my one zero one for most things in life. But Just in life. In life.
Samantha Holt:Fan casting. Henry Capple. Just throw him in there. Even when it's like play like a humbatic.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:I'm like, he's gonna crush
Alfredo Brown:the new queen from him. Queen Elizabeth. Panther.
Matthew Kopfhamer:Who's gonna be queen Elizabeth in
Samantha Holt:the Henry Capple's gonna crush that. Absolutely I love him, and I'm excited for other projects of his. But I'm okay with the passing of the torch to to David Cornstwett. I think he did a really good job. And I'm excited to see what more he can do because of the position that James Gunn put him in to start, I think, is also really helpful.
Samantha Holt:He's got a lot of room to grow as a character, and I think it's really exciting for me.
Matthew Kopfhamer:So wait, Sam, are you the one that wait. Wait. Wait. Are you the one that wrote that fan article casting Henry Cavill as the new Batman in the DCU? Because I saw that the other day.
Matthew Kopfhamer:Now it makes sense.
Alfredo Brown:God, that'd be really funny.
Samantha Holt:What I do on my own time. Leave me alone, guys.
Alfredo Brown:Did anyone here not like the corn sweat performance? Because, personally, I think that this guy went from being sorta, kind of known, not really more of he's not a household name or at least wasn't, to now he's an absolute fucking star after this. This Does. This is a this is a Superman that I honestly don't I don't wanna say that we haven't gotten this because I went back and rewatched all the Superman movies, the the bad ones, the good ones, all of them. Always gonna have the props to Christopher Reeve what he did with the Superman.
Alfredo Brown:It was just a different time, different era, and different style of Superman. I think that to be a good Superman, you you either need to be incredibly likable, exceptionally cool, or relatable. And I don't think that Superman is is, like, honestly, always that cool. It makes him cooler his powers, and that's where Cavill came in. Like, he was a cool Superman.
Alfredo Brown:Wasn't very likable or relatable. Christopher Reeve, extremely likable. He's the, oh, gosh. All shucks golly, you know, thing that he had going on. I think this is the first time where it's you can get the, what the hey, dude.
Alfredo Brown:You know, you can get, like, the the the shucks golly Superman, but then he's still, I don't wanna say cool, but he's the first one that's really been relatable, where you are relating to the man part of Superman. And that's what James Gunn has done so well, whether it's been Superman or creature commandos or suicide squad or guardians. He made us relate to a fucking raccoon, guys. Like, he did it. He made us relate to the bride of Frankenstein and Creature Commandos.
Alfredo Brown:He has now made us relate
Jagger May:to potentially one of the
Alfredo Brown:yeah. Ma.
Matthew Kopfhamer:Go see our reviews for that reference.
Alfredo Brown:Jags Jags sweating through his jacket right now. Just thinking of her. But I I honestly I think my worry about this prior to this movie was, you know, Superman is probably the most unrelatable character in all of comics. Like, he is just an he's an OP alien. Right?
Alfredo Brown:Over He's literally an overpowered alien. He's a god. Like, think back to to Zack Snyder's Justice League where he's fighting in Steppenwolf and then just gets the the axe on his shoulder doesn't move. Yep. Like, none of us can actually relate to that.
Alfredo Brown:Like, none of us. But now this guy who's like, Superman doesn't take selfies, and he's coming up with silly sound bites, and he's checking social media for
Matthew Kopfhamer:his safety.
Alfredo Brown:Him. And, like, almost nothing
Samantha Holt:couple times that I read it.
Alfredo Brown:Almost nothing about him was almost nothing about him was Kryptonian, to be quite honest. And I think that dressing him down like that made him such an enjoyable character. Vig, you were shaking your head no.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:Yeah. I think I'm gonna talk a little bit about Dragon Ball z and Goku. Right? Because Goku is similar in a way. This overpowered character that when you're a kid, I think you enjoy Superman and and Dragon Ball z because you just wanna be at least I did.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:I just wanna be the most powerful, could do whatever. I knew I could never actually do it, but that's what I loved. And that's what was related.
Alfredo Brown:And then you turned seven.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:He yes. Correct. And he Superman and Goku, these were people I wanted to be, though I knew I never could. But as I get older, I think Superman was a complete opposite. It was the most relatable thing for me because the thing was never about the super.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:The really great Superman stories were always about the man. Right? Like, most people love Batman when you compare Batman to Superman because Batman is relatable. He has no superpowers. He's like, I might not be a billionaire, but I could do everything Batman does if I just worked really hard.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:I could never work hard enough to be Superman. I do that. Beauty of all the best Superman stories are the humanity, the man. And they made that front and center in this movie, which, you know, you've seen that a little bit with Christopher Reeve. You've seen it with some of the comics.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:You've seen it with some of the some of the TV shows on Saturday, where Superman having to make tough decisions, having to, like, figure out what makes him human, and, like, not being Kryptonian is what makes Superman such a great story and what makes him a great superhero. Because, actually, like, we know he's super he's untouchable, unbeatable, But you really enjoy the fact that he's human despite it all, even though he's an alien. And I love that they talk about that in that movie. Maybe he was a little too on the nose with his little monologue to Lex Luthor, but I think that's okay. So that's what I always loved about Superman, and I really maybe that's why I love this movie so much is that the super stuff didn't really matter.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:We saw him get beat up a little bit. I do love the little twist that the only person who was really able to beat him was, like, a
Matthew Kopfhamer:Is himself.
Alfredo Brown:Was, like,
Vignesh Doraiswamy:a Darth Vader version of him. I don't know why they had to give him hair to make him look like he was Anakin Skywalker, but but that's what I really loved about this movie. Did no one else think that was Anakin Skywalker the first second they saw it at first or just me?
Matthew Kopfhamer:To I'm not gonna lie.
Jagger May:Superman movie and Anakin's dead. So I
Alfredo Brown:was too busy wondering if it was gonna be some sort of version of Bizarro.
Matthew Kopfhamer:That's thank you. That's what I
Alfredo Brown:kinda thought. It was just sort of goofy corn sweat.
Jagger May:I think we're gonna get him the I was hoping for
Matthew Kopfhamer:I think we're gonna get a Bizarro.
Jagger May:Yes. Yes. Well, yeah.
Alfredo Brown:He got hit on Bizarro
Matthew Kopfhamer:because he got sucked in the black hole. He's coming back as Bizarro for sure.
Jagger May:He's and he's dumb as fuck. They've established that.
Matthew Kopfhamer:Exactly. Yep. So, Vignesh, I kinda wanna jump off of what you said, and I think there are scenes in this movie specifically that really point out Clark learning that he needs to embrace his humanity, and that is his superpower. Not the heat vision, not the cold breath, not the super strength in flying is the fact that when his dad, Pa Ken, literally gave him the the the talk and was like, look. It's not what your parents intended for you to do.
Matthew Kopfhamer:It's what you do. It's the actions you take that define you as a man. And he took that to heart, and then he also when Lois basically dressed him down in the interview, it was like, you unilaterally decided to do this thing and you think it's the right thing, but how do you know it's the right thing? And that you could see the gears turning his head, he's like, but it is the and so that really made him pause and worse. Again, that's that evolution of the the hero that I think is so well done in this movie that we don't just get the OP Superman who's like, I know everything.
Matthew Kopfhamer:Every decision I make is always the right one. This is a Superman who is still struggling with, am I doing the right thing? Am I actually helping? Or am I actually worsening the situation? Because we had that whole political blowback of when he stopped a war, which in the long run is the right move, but did he go about it in the right way?
Matthew Kopfhamer:And I and I think those are the lessons that if we can stick to him learning, that will make it an enjoyable Superman movie versus he just defeated everybody in his path and there was no real struggle.
Alfredo Brown:Let's let's get into some of these oh, go, Jack. Go.
Jagger May:Yeah. Sorry. I've been trying to get this in. As someone who's been, like Phrasing? A hater of Superman, I think James Gunn did an excellent job of not only making me love the character, but like you we've all said, all these details, that we've and layers in this movie, it just made me wanna read more.
Jagger May:And I've consumed, like, three Superman graphic novels since I've watched that movie. And this and to answer your question, I never did. I think David Cornswit is the best Superman because we finally got all the things that make Superman Superman on screen. I we got a Superman who can fuck, obviously. Like like, we got this nerdy, goofy, little white boy, but he was cool there for a minute.
Jagger May:You saw what Lois saw there for a minute. Then we got I'm powerful, badass Superman. He just had to get there, and he had to get mad about it. But more importantly, the parts that I've always loved about Superman are things that I made fun of about Superman, and now I've grown to love, where he's just this goofy asshole. People forget that, like, for a long time, it was canon that Superman was a vegetarian.
Jagger May:Like, he's so they're saving fucking squirrels and shit like that. He can see the aura of life. It's just a whole fucking thing. But, like, he's a vegetarian. He cares about every single fucking person in the world.
Jagger May:I think about his interactions with Batman where there's a meteor coming, and he's just like, well, I'll just move the planet over. And the Batman's like, I don't have time to tell you all the things that are wrong
Alfredo Brown:about that. You know?
Jagger May:It's just like, that's as fun as actually see together in one character.
Alfredo Brown:Okay. So we we loved I think we all love David Cornstwight as Superman. And, well, what I loved here was just basically, in order to actually be the real hero to be the Superman, it was really him needing to be human to understand the people he's saving around him. Like, that's what it was. It's like, get in touch with who you are as a human.
Alfredo Brown:Like, you mentioned the saving of the squirrels. I think some people are gonna look at that and be like, it's too far, but it's like, no. That's his code. Like, that is who Superman is is to protect all life.
Jagger May:Every single life.
Alfredo Brown:Like, no. No. I mean, we don't wanna make this an anti man of steel pod, but, like, there's a big difference between punching Zod through buildings and potentially killing thousands of people versus I'm gonna save a squirrel, and we could've, you know, successfully taken this Kaiju to some sort of Yeah. Getting angry that they killed the guy. Thing.
Alfredo Brown:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like, there's there's so much to this Superman that I think is, when I went back and I watched the man of steel, I was like, oh, this Clark, he just took clothes off of someone's clothesline. That's stealing. That's wrong.
Alfredo Brown:It made me rethink everything.
Jagger May:Killing Zach
Matthew Kopfhamer:was big thing.
Jagger May:Yeah. Mhmm. Yeah.
Alfredo Brown:Yeah. So, I mean, we we love this Superman. There's other characters here, though, I think, that really prop him up well, one of them obviously being Lois. And you mentioned, Koff, the the interview scene, which I think really sets the tone for the whole movie and and shows the phenomenal chemistry between these two actors. Jack and I made the joke like, man, I feel bad for their significant others in real life because it was just on fire when the two of them were there.
Alfredo Brown:Lois here, I think she might be my favorite portrayal of Lois as well. It's not Rachel Brosnahan. Like, this is Yeah. Had the juice, man. Mhmm.
Samantha Holt:She had the juice. She had the fire. She like, that interview scene is so pivotal because you see her quickness. And I think that's something that Lois' character always had is she's very witty. She's really intelligent.
Samantha Holt:There was all of that in this character and more, and she really stood her on her own two feet without Superman as well. So you saw a lot of strength in her as a character, which I really appreciated seeing that consistently throughout the film. Whereas sometimes, you know, you get the witty Lois, but then she's still, you know, a damsel in distress. She was never that necessarily damsel in distress. She was out trying to solve things alongside Superman working so hard.
Samantha Holt:And I think that made her a really excellent partner and made it realistic why they can work together even though she's like, I don't know why to try to do relationships with you, which I think is hilarious as well. So I love that back and forth where it isn't perfect. But I also did love the little nostalgic bit of the kiss at the end where they're just, like, slowly floating and then twisting. And it's like, okay. You got little romantic moment.
Samantha Holt:I just needed it, like, for a second. But everything else was just strong character building, why they make sense as working together as a team, not just a love interest.
Matthew Kopfhamer:And I think that's important for
Vignesh Doraiswamy:No notes. Best Lois. Yeah.
Matthew Kopfhamer:And and I think that's that's what is important for a partner to Superman, who is the most capable person on the planet, he needs a partner who is capable in her own right. He doesn't need a plot device. Yeah. And I think that's where James Gunn really hit the nail on the head is this is not just a female character to be a motivation for Superman to do something. This is a character all on her own who has her own capabilities and her own, thoughts and and goals.
Matthew Kopfhamer:And we saw her go about, like, kick ass. Like, she kicked ass in this movie.
Jagger May:And And Lois is a what to say what you said, Alfredo, but emphasize it, she's support and, again, not like a plot device. She's not like, oh, Superman, come save me. You know? Like, how do you
Alfredo Brown:think She's not doing like what she did in the first one where she jumps up
Vignesh Doraiswamy:the window.
Alfredo Brown:Tell me what color my panties are. That movie's crazy, by the way.
Jagger May:Which one?
Alfredo Brown:The first Superman where she's like she's like, really? You're Superman? Don't you have X-ray vision? Tell me what color my pants are.
Jagger May:I gotta rewatch that.
Alfredo Brown:It's wild. It's wild. Is that
Matthew Kopfhamer:the is that the same movie where she jumps out the window to try to prove that he's Superman? Because she's like, you'll never let me fall? Okay. Yeah.
Alfredo Brown:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No.
Alfredo Brown:Lois is is wild. So Lois is wild. Second movie, she jumps into Niagara Falls because she's like, Clark, I know you're Superman. And Clark's like, good luck. Throws a branch out there.
Samantha Holt:And then she's like, you didn't save me later? She's like, we're gonna fight about this.
Jagger May:That that Lois was into it. She's just like, ah, Clark, save me.
Alfredo Brown:And she's just She was Michael Sarah and this is the end. She's like, oh, this is embarrassing.
Jagger May:Yeah. It has to be a fetish at that point. But, yeah, it stands out 10 out of 10, best lowest. Terry Hatcher, I think she's number two. That's just childhood, though.
Matthew Kopfhamer:For Yep. Nostalgia. Nostalgia.
Samantha Holt:Calm down.
Alfredo Brown:Sorry sorry, Sam. Earmuffs.
Jagger May:Okay. We heard your your whole thing on travel. Let's double
Matthew Kopfhamer:sit on this. Double standard.
Alfredo Brown:This podcast is very funny right now. Got a bonk. You know what I loved with this Lois? It's obviously, Rachel Brosyan does a great job. She's her character is so much fun, but what I like what they did here was the choice to not have it where she doesn't know that Clark is Superman.
Alfredo Brown:We don't and that, like, that stops her from having to be this plot device where we get a lot of Clark in the movie because we didn't need that. Like, it's it we don't really need Clark in the Daily Planet doing his day to day and her figuring everything out. We don't need, like, the will they, won't they? It's very, you know, like, eighties sitcom type thing. I love that we had this relationship, yet we still got to see who they are at the Daily Planet where she's calling him Smallville and, like, treating him like the dorky Clark.
Alfredo Brown:We got all of those things. And then when he finally is like, yeah. You can interview me. She's like, really?
Matthew Kopfhamer:For sure.
Alfredo Brown:Let's do this right now. Like, she's had those questions written down forever. Like, she is just she's ready to go. And that's what I think I love most about this one is that she is she's almost kind of like his Batman right now where she is no fluff, no frills, always prepared, ready to call him out on his bullshit. And I almost feel like Lois is the character that's going to prepare him for working better with a justice league and and what what helps him work better with a mister terrific and a Guy Gardner and all these other people because he has to he's still he's still human, and he's figuring out relationships.
Alfredo Brown:He couldn't even do it. When she's like, yeah. I knew we weren't gonna last. He doesn't even try. He doesn't even try to embody hope there.
Alfredo Brown:He just walks out. He he's still, like, he's still bad at being a human at this point too. Would say I love you
Vignesh Doraiswamy:in, like, three months.
Jagger May:Out of it.
Samantha Holt:I was gonna say, he's like a real man. He's just leaving an argument because he doesn't have a good quick comeback.
Alfredo Brown:Oh, man. Yikes. No. We would just go to Twitter.
Jagger May:I wouldn't do that, actually, Sam. I lied.
Alfredo Brown:Jack's like, no. I had to figure this out together. I would I would Couple other characters on here. Couple other characters. Lex here, Nicholas Hoult.
Alfredo Brown:Dark. How do we feel? Dark.
Matthew Kopfhamer:Bro, mushroom roulette? Crazy.
Alfredo Brown:That The hell?
Samantha Holt:Did not see that coming.
Matthew Kopfhamer:I was just as shocked as metamorphosis. I was like, okay. And that's that's what we're doing. And that's I I like I love that moment because that's that's the switch that he's like, okay. This man in front of me who I'm poisoning because I'm being held against my will actually cares about everyone.
Matthew Kopfhamer:The man in front of me is a piece of shit. I'm gonna not do what he says anymore. I I thought that was a perfectly Yeah. Well done motivational, like, flip for that character
Alfredo Brown:Mhmm.
Matthew Kopfhamer:Seeing that. Because it was shocking in theaters.
Samantha Holt:That was nice.
Jagger May:And he's not the Lex Luther that's in my brain, but I think he's the Lex Luther that fits our time. That makes sense. Like like, I don't mean to be shitty or say anything, but like, little angry bald white dude who's just like, you're stronger than me. Money. Money and brain is all the power.
Jagger May:And he's just like angry.
Samantha Holt:I like
Alfredo Brown:that you made him Skeletor.
Jagger May:That's that's all I saw, dawg. The entire time, like like, I just see like a little childish scrawny boy screaming with fistfuls of dolls. But
Alfredo Brown:he admits it too. He's like, yes. It is envy. I fucking hate you. One a.
Alfredo Brown:One a. One a.
Matthew Kopfhamer:Yeah. Number one That
Alfredo Brown:was an that an old way for them.
Matthew Kopfhamer:We thought Kendrick Lamar was a hater. No. Lex Luther.
Jagger May:I hate the way you walked away that you talking to.
Matthew Kopfhamer:I'm surprised they didn't have that song in the background. Yeah. I thought it was well done. Like, I thought the the choreography like you said, the Proton River scene was a little wonky for me.
Alfredo Brown:I mean, for, like, for, like, Lex with how he was involved in this. Because we didn't get Lex in his suit. Right. And, no, I get it. The scenes weren't necessarily, let's say, as cool as, like, man of steel where you're just, like, punching people with this crazy veracity.
Alfredo Brown:But this idea that Lex has memorized and studied Superman. Like, was grinding tape. That
Samantha Holt:was Superman. Really interesting. I like that.
Matthew Kopfhamer:I I have a love hate relationship with that point because on one hand, it's like, yeah, that makes sense for Lex Luthor to literally dissect every single video that he can get of this person and develop counterattacks to him and and a whole strategy. But then for that same character did not know that Superman is Clark Kent just felt very weird to me. How has in all of his studying, I can't he can't tell me that Clark Kent has done a good job.
Alfredo Brown:Brother, if that's gonna be the straw that breaks the camel's back, gotta tell you, Superman's not gonna work for you.
Jagger May:I know. But I'm just glasses. No glasses. Hold on. Hypnoglasses.
Alfredo Brown:Okay. Fine. Done. By way, if you if you hadn't heard it, hypnoglasses. Yeah.
Alfredo Brown:Okay.
Jagger May:Alright. I will say I liked the fight. I didn't care. And this is me getting a little bit too in the weeds for it. Yeah.
Jagger May:Because I'm like, what is what is this Lex Luther? Is he superior intellect, Lex Luther? Because, like, Lex was smart, but he was, like, businessman smart, you know, Bezo smart. He wasn't terrific smart. Like, terrific, I believe, if if he could if we hook terrific up to Ultraman, Superman's getting that fucking work.
Jagger May:That was my only issue.
Alfredo Brown:He did create a pocket he, like, he he discovered a pocket dimension that's it's like, you gotta be in the 1%.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:But was
Jagger May:that him, or was that what yes. Thank you. That. Yeah.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:Yeah. Was he
Alfredo Brown:not, like, the smartest guy? He was the smartest guy in the room with everything. Like, he even establishes, you
Jagger May:don't man.
Alfredo Brown:He's a richest He he even says it. He's, like
Matthew Kopfhamer:I think I think his one definition
Samantha Holt:weapons and then misusing them.
Alfredo Brown:Okay. Let's all stop.
Samantha Holt:No. Stop. Stop. Stop. Wait.
Alfredo Brown:What is he about? Says when one of the guys is trying to explain to him, he's like, you're telling me something acting like I don't know that already. Like, he is 100% the smartest man in the room. He just also happens to be the richest and angriest in the room
Vignesh Doraiswamy:as well. I think Alfredo has it right now.
Samantha Holt:He's also making poor decisions.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:Well, happens. Emotional. Envy and emotion. No. I think this Lex Luthor is very clearly a Tony Stark esque character.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:Right? Someone who's brilliant. He talks about Galileo, Einstein. Right? He brings up these scientists when he's comparing some to him, but he's also stupefyingly rich.
Alfredo Brown:So I think
Vignesh Doraiswamy:they actually did a really good job. He was unhinged for someone who was really smart, but that made sense. You could see him getting really emotional and not realizing what Superman was gonna do to finally, like, you know, get rid of Ultraman and, like, escape and all that sort of stuff. And I think it makes sense that this guy was so pathologically obsessed that he collected his hair. He found a way to clone him.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:He made him, I don't know, either a dumb simpleton or a guy who just hates Superman and, like Oh. He could do all of this, like, one a, one a, 94 b, all that sort of stuff. I actually think it landed well. I was worried it wasn't going to because without a good villain, you don't have a good hero story. Right?
Vignesh Doraiswamy:And I think, like, Luthor was Lex Luthor's story was a little weak in some places for me, and maybe it was the weakest part of the movie for me was just, like, his motivations were kinda great, but also kinda whack. Like, I need to make my own little half of a country.
Alfredo Brown:I don't even think he was the third lead of this movie. I think it was terrific. Yeah.
Jagger May:Yeah. It was terrific. I am correction. I looked this up because I knew mister Terrific was the third smartest man on Earth. Lex is the smartest.
Jagger May:And then it's I told you. Ray Palmer,
Vignesh Doraiswamy:who is
Jagger May:the Adam. Super smart. Yeah. I am wrong. Oh.
Jagger May:I'm a terrible But war I only just started reading Superman.
Alfredo Brown:So Yesterday.
Jagger May:Yeah. Fuck you. I'm trying
Alfredo Brown:Just reading in general.
Matthew Kopfhamer:No. That's you. That's you.
Alfredo Brown:Small girl,
Samantha Holt:though. No. That's you. That's you.
Alfredo Brown:Get me a picture book any day. Okay. So we're we've we've been going long on this. But some of the other characters we got here, Justice Gang, it worked for me. I think they were in it, like, just the right amount.
Alfredo Brown:I am excited to see, Lantern and Hawkgirl be in peacemaker season two. I would absolutely love a mister a mister terrific show. I I I don't think we need to, like, dive into it too much. Like, it was great. If anything, Koff.
Alfredo Brown:Yeah. I agree. I think we could have had more hot girl, more, Isabella Merced in there. Mhmm. Crypto.
Alfredo Brown:I think this was the character that most people were worried about. Was it too much for you guys at times? I had one specific moment where I thought it was too much, and I think it was the ending where he starts basically yeah. Where he pulls a Hulk and just starts throwing around Lex like he's Loki, and it was just, like, bad timing for the humor. I would have just loved to finish on that beautiful, bright moment with David Korn's sweat.
Alfredo Brown:We already had the big, the big crypto moment where he's playing fetch. Get all the toys. Get all the little, you know, drones that are flying around. Like, that was the payoff. Crypto coming in at the last minute, that's my only small complaint, but I think they did a job with him.
Alfredo Brown:He's the goodest boy. It was it was pretty well done for the most part.
Matthew Kopfhamer:The only the only pushback I'll
Alfredo Brown:get to you some fun.
Matthew Kopfhamer:Yeah. The only the only pushback I'll give you to that Lex scene is every single at least me as an audience member, I wanted to see Lex get the shit kicked out of him by Superman, and I knew that was not gonna happen with this Superman. So getting that little piece of it with crypto, was like, good enough. But I absolutely understand the criticism. Fair.
Samantha Holt:Fair. I enjoyed it.
Jagger May:Yeah. I mean, Alfredo, we already talked about this on the non spoiler one, but I thought the same thing. But, again, I keep bringing this up. I think crypto being plugged so hard was crucial to establish the plot line for women of tomorrow. Yep.
Jagger May:Like, it's the entire fucking plot. So with spoilers, I guess. So
Alfredo Brown:Last character I wanna talk about here. Terrific. And just because I think it's funny. Jimmy Olsen, who basically terrific? He became the he I mean, we talked about terrific.
Alfredo Brown:Like, I'm I'm I'm I'm excited there, but he basically became the embodiment of you know that meme that goes around on Twitter where it's like, people say anything on here, like, Charlie Brown had hoes? No. He didn't. Like, Jimmy Olsen is now that meme where he's just got, like, girls swooning over him at the Daily Planet and his whole thing with Eve Testmacher, I thought was just a really funny storyline. Some people not so in love with that, where they almost see Jimmy as like a I mean, yeah.
Alfredo Brown:Sure. He's he's a little douchey, but okay. Like, I I don't know what else we wanted from Jimmy Olsen.
Matthew Kopfhamer:He's meant to be a comic relief character. Like, what do want?
Jagger May:Yeah. Yeah. And and most of the time, Jimmy Olsen is the plot device. It's just like, well, we've kidnapped Jimmy Olsen because he was taking pictures and blah blah blah. Yeah.
Jagger May:And then Clark has to go get him. So, like, making Jimmy Olsen useful and funny is a good thing.
Alfredo Brown:You know what they did was they gave everyone use and Yes. Power, so to speak, while powering down Superman. Like, it was kinda it was showing that he needs to depend on others. Even the falafel guy, Molly, like, picking him up out of the ground. Like Mhmm.
Alfredo Brown:You you RIP. You helped me one time. Yeah. RIP, man. That was
Samantha Holt:that was definitely was nice having all of those characters have a little bit of moment where it helped remove the ego of Superman, which I think is what a lot of people end up not liking about Superman. Yes. Because he can do everything doesn't mean he should. And even at the end where, you know, he sends, you know, the justice gang or whatever to go and help with the war rather than going there himself, I'm, like, watching. I'm, like, waiting.
Samantha Holt:How is he gonna get there really that fast? Yes. He's really fast. And then I kept waiting for that. He's gonna try and be in two places at once, and he didn't.
Samantha Holt:He actually was leaning on those and relying on them to handle their shit, and I think that was a much stronger Superman to look for help.
Jagger May:You embodied exactly what I don't like about Superman because I've always found Lex Luthor to be right. How he goes about things is wrong. But, ultimately, I found Lex right. I'm like, this is a strong fucking alien. What if he has a bad day?
Jagger May:Like, you know?
Matthew Kopfhamer:Yeah. He's called the e Jack.
Alfredo Brown:He's the supporter of angry billionaires.
Matthew Kopfhamer:It's called the injustice storyline, and it's
Jagger May:Jack or May?
Alfredo Brown:The podcaster? Alright. There's there's so much to talk about with this movie, and I wish we could go longer. The the the whole scene with the with the parents and the recording, I thought was a really cool spin because it makes sense that Kryptonians would actually be like, hey. We're stronger than you, so go take over that
Jagger May:Earth. That
Alfredo Brown:yellow sun, bro. Hashtag secret harem. Secret harem. All good. Secret harem.
Alfredo Brown:Great. I'm excited to see where Metamorpho goes. We already mentioned mister Terrific. Ma and Pac Cat, I thought were just, like, the right dose of Kansas parents.
Samantha Holt:So cute.
Matthew Kopfhamer:He was not hot.
Alfredo Brown:I appreciate it. Jack and I talked about that on the non spoiler where it's like, we didn't need guilty Diane Lane. Like, she's
Matthew Kopfhamer:she's For real.
Alfredo Brown:You know, we didn't need hot Kansas parents. I think
Jagger May:it me from my pie. Like, you're twitching them.
Alfredo Brown:Okay. At the end of every movie or show that we watch and discuss, we give our review score on a scale of one to ten, ten being the highest, one being the lowest. Jag, kick us off here. What's your score? Scale one to 10.
Jagger May:Because this is in comparison to other movies, it's a nine. That's for the record. It's a nine. For a comic book movie, it is a 11.
Alfredo Brown:Let's go. Let's go. And you're saying because it's it's it's gonna be so influential, so important.
Jagger May:Yes. Yes. This is this this is the bar. This is the standard.
Alfredo Brown:I'm with you. I'm with you. Vig?
Vignesh Doraiswamy:It was the same answer. I was gonna say the same thing, and I didn't know Jagger had the same idea. I mean, as a movie, it has its flaws. Right? It's an eight and a half, nine, whatever you want.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:But for a comic book movie that had all this hype and potential that it had to live up to, this movie was set up to fail. It had to be goddamn near perfect. And I think it was as a comic book movie, so give it whatever score you want, but it's at least a 10 out of 10.
Alfredo Brown:So is that your official score? 10 out of 10?
Vignesh Doraiswamy:Can I go higher? Can I give it, like, a no? I'm kidding. 10 out of 10.
Matthew Kopfhamer:This guy goes to 11.
Alfredo Brown:Rarely ever do this. You rarely do this.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:As a comic book movie, I have to give this a 10 out of 10. Not just because it had all the hype and potential for disappointment. I was really worried. I was like, you're I I hear crypto. I'm seeing the, you know, Guy Gardner.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:I'm seeing all this stuff. And I'm like, how are you gonna put this into a single movie, make it coherent, not get me lost, not be too confusing? I And think it was marvelously done. I think it was a stroke of genius to pull it off in the way that he did when so many others have failed. I think James Gunn did a wonderful job.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:This is a perfect comic book movie.
Alfredo Brown:Koff, what about you?
Matthew Kopfhamer:10. Everything everybody else said. It's I mean, I'm gonna spend money to see it multiple times in theater. So
Alfredo Brown:Hashtag super shit. Sam?
Samantha Holt:I love Jags' explanation, and I agree with it. But I'm just gonna go ahead and take the nine that I wanna apply to this as a film and the 11 I'd apply to it as a comic book movie and just say it's a 10. I can forgive the things that were annoying, the little pixel river or whatever. And these little moments where I was like, I didn't love that. But for everything else that it did, I think it did a really good job.
Samantha Holt:And so, yeah, it's gotta be a 10.
Jagger May:So am I thinking kid? No. No.
Alfredo Brown:I mean, because you said nine, and then you said 11 on comic book. So I averaged it out to 10. Because that's kind everyone everyone Okay. Everyone followed your lead here. But Okay.
Alfredo Brown:You're
Samantha Holt:a Alfredo can do math sometimes. Mhmm.
Alfredo Brown:Sometimes. Yeah. Just like how I can read books sometimes when the words are really big.
Samantha Holt:And they just say pow.
Alfredo Brown:Well, I gotta say, it's pow. Big onomatopoeia guy over here. Kaboom. Yeah. It's it's a 10.
Alfredo Brown:It's a 10 for me, and I think that when I went and saw this movie the first time, I left feeling the theater with such joy and and wonderment that I have not had for a comic book movie for a hero's story in such a long time. I think the last time I truly felt that was Endgame? The thing is is, like, Endgame was great, and it got me emotional, but I'm talking about where I felt like a little kid Oh. Sitting there again.
Jagger May:Spider Man no way home?
Alfredo Brown:Yeah. No. I'm going way back. I'm going way back to first Spider Man, Tobey Maguire, the first one that came out. Granted, I was a lot younger, so it was a different time in my life.
Alfredo Brown:But to have that wonderment of, like, oh, superhero movies are here, and this can be fun, and I can be transported to a whole another world where comics are alive on screen. I have not had that. I've had many emotional moments, moments where I loved movies, moments where I got excited. So many of these movies have given us the wrong lesson where it's been like, let's give you nostalgia bait. Let's bring back characters you saw ten years ago.
Alfredo Brown:No way home, Deadpool, and Wolverine. Let's get everyone together coming through a portal because we know it's gonna tug on your emotional heartstrings, right, with Endgame. Good movies. Don't get me wrong. This is really the first one in a long time that made me feel like a kid sitting there watching Justice League Unlimited, WB Kids, all that in the morning, you know, just just just being that kid that fell in love with superheroes.
Alfredo Brown:For that, this has to be a 10. It's not a perfect movie, but it's the movie we need right now to save the comic book universe. We've really needed it. Mhmm. So that's tens across the board, guys.
Alfredo Brown:Wow.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:We've never done that.
Alfredo Brown:Tens. Usually, comes to me. Ever done that. No.
Samantha Holt:I don't
Vignesh Doraiswamy:think I've ever done always bring us down, but, yeah, not even I could
Jagger May:do me. Like, since you've been gone, I've been holding us down literally.
Alfredo Brown:I appreciate that.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:What's, what's the
Alfredo Brown:level of excitement here for the future of the DCU? Because they've got peacemaker season two coming out very soon in the next couple months. Lanterns that they're working on right here. That's gonna be it's Jon Stewart and Hal Jordan, which that's gonna be really fun. Clayface, which should be separate, but it's gonna be its own freestanding movie from Mike Flanagan.
Alfredo Brown:And then Supergirl, obviously, is gonna be the next iteration of this. What what's the level of excitement here off
Jagger May:the charts? Eleventy.
Samantha Holt:Oh. Actually excited.
Alfredo Brown:I love it.
Samantha Holt:Genuinely excited.
Alfredo Brown:I love it. Super.
Jagger May:Not that fake shit, like, where on the thumbnail, I'm doing the home alone. I mean, I'm, like, dead ass excited.
Alfredo Brown:It you know what? And I mentioned this in the group chat is that I am so excited for these that it has almost extinguished a little bit of my excitement on the Marvel Universe, where it's like, I don't necessarily care if Fantastic Four is that good. I don't necessarily care if Doomsday is that good. Like, I want them to be good, but now I'm kinda like, this isn't I this is no longer my lifeblood anymore. I got the new hotness over here.
Alfredo Brown:Marvel kind like of feels junk like food now. Yeah. It feels like my old busted ex. Like, I've gone and eaten at good restaurants now. I know what good food tastes like.
Alfredo Brown:I'm back over here. Anyone else? Horrible analogy. Horrible analogy. Disgusting analogy.
Alfredo Brown:I compared my ex All to
Jagger May:of it
Matthew Kopfhamer:is we know
Alfredo Brown:why you're eating. No. I got lost in my my analogies. There's let let's stick with the food one. Let's stick with the food one because I'm not breaking up with Marvel.
Alfredo Brown:I'm just saying, like, once you have tasted good food elsewhere, like, you're probably not hopping back over to the Olive Garden.
Matthew Kopfhamer:You can still enjoy McDonald's from time to time, but if it's all you're eating, you're gonna get sick. So we need some high quality food to help cleanse our palate.
Jagger May:This is wore out. FCU, not as excited. DCU.
Alfredo Brown:There we go. Fuck.
Jagger May:Yeah. We good. Let's get out of we go.
Alfredo Brown:There
Jagger May:we go.
Matthew Kopfhamer:We'd end it, Jack.
Alfredo Brown:Yeah. Alright. Well, we are going to be back again later this week because we got our one year anniversary episode. This is exciting. We started this pod, one year ago.
Alfredo Brown:We've just we've grown. We started off just me, Jag, and vague. We've added Koff. We've added Sam, and, honestly, this is our found family. James Gunn would be so proud of us.
Alfredo Brown:Look at that, guys. As always, I wanna thank everybody for watching and listening all the way through for myself, for Koff, for Jag, for Vague, for Sam. We'll see you next time. Adios. See, that's when our cold opens need to be just, like, dumbers.
Alfredo Brown:Okay. Here we go. Now I'm gonna ask Sam because Sam just got because she's probably also gonna be the same thing. She's gonna be
Jagger May:like, Sam.
Alfredo Brown:Just that's fucking stupid. I don't care.
Jagger May:Yeah. Sam, you don't she don't be drinking that shit.
Samantha Holt:I can't wait.
Alfredo Brown:Sam. I can't wait. We were debating the validity of doctor Pepper's credentials, his medical credentials.
Matthew Kopfhamer:Surgeon general, doctor Pepper.
Alfredo Brown:Another one that doesn't care. Got it. Understood. Sam understands the assignment that there isn't one.
Matthew Kopfhamer:Sam's like, you idiots.
Jagger May:If you wanna get real deep, I'll go full jack with it. If doctor Pepper's a doctor, he's one of those doctors who get paid expert to say people are guilty with zero evidence. Doctor Ross.
Alfredo Brown:You see
Jagger May:those fuckers on there that just Yeah. Yeah.
Alfredo Brown:Doctor Ross. Yeah. Oh, he'd totally be in he'd be in the Trump administration. Yeah. 100%.
Alfredo Brown:Equivalent.
Samantha Holt:You know, he is like the adviser to that one fucking guy that's tanned beyond
Alfredo Brown:Fucking guy. Guy. You're gonna have to
Jagger May:that doesn't really matter. Robert f Kidney. Yeah.
Alfredo Brown:RFK. The one that's got a fucking worm in his head.
Samantha Holt:Yeah. RFK's, you know, other medical adviser is doctor Pepper alongside
Jagger May:doctor Pepper. True, man. Like Next, you're
Matthew Kopfhamer:gonna tell me that doctor Scholes isn't a real doctor either, and that just that just silly.
Alfredo Brown:That actually is a real doctor.
Jagger May:That is real
Samantha Holt:saint and should be protected
Alfredo Brown:at all times. You look you look fucking stupid now, Koff.
Jagger May:Yeah. It's like Doctor Shoals is real. Kid. Yeah.
Alfredo Brown:Speaking of doctors, hey. We're we're debating the validity of doctor Pepper and doctor Shoals credentials.
Matthew Kopfhamer:Vigdish is like, I work with them both. What are you talking about?
Alfredo Brown:Where would you assume they went to medical school, Vig?
Matthew Kopfhamer:Well, doctor Pepper went to Brown.
Jagger May:Southern New Hampshire University.
Alfredo Brown:I can't tell if that's racist or not. Southern New Hampshire. DeVry. Actually, University of Phoenix. DeVry.
Jagger May:Actually, one of my old friends who I used to work with at Red Lobster back in the day, she did Southern New Hampshire University, finished her degree, and, like, thriving. Like, she's, like, the one I'm like I'm like, how are you not in the commercial? Like, it's I'm sorry.
Alfredo Brown:I can't I cannot not laugh when I hear Red Lobster because all I ever think of is the line from old school where they're all getting kicked out of school, and, Spanish is like, damn. I'm have to go back to working at Red Lobster. And the guy's like, you already worked at Red Lobster. He's
Jagger May:like, damn.
Alfredo Brown:It's part time, dick.
Jagger May:Yeah. Exactly. No lie. That's what gets you by working at a Red Lobster. You're like, this ain't gonna be my life.
Jagger May:I'm in college right now. You know?
Matthew Kopfhamer:Fifteen years later, like, fuck.
Jagger May:Dude, not me, dog.
Alfredo Brown:Cheddar Bay Biscuits only gets you so far.
Jagger May:Straight up. I love those biscuits. You get in, you fuck a hostess, you get out. Otherwise, you're Jeremy in the back.
Alfredo Brown:What?
Jagger May:I'm I'm joking. Actually, I'm I'm, I'm writing sketches right now. So I'm like Got
Vignesh Doraiswamy:it. You needed it.
Alfredo Brown:That's yeah. That was a good test audience. Yeah. Let's just do that. Let's just do that.
Alfredo Brown:Every episode, you come in
Matthew Kopfhamer:Start with
Alfredo Brown:new sketch. Give us, like, give us different pieces of your set. Mhmm. Give us, like, two jokes. Mhmm.
Alfredo Brown:We'll be your test audience.
Jagger May:I I I wrote a whole sketch of, like, the creepy kitchen guy that's just, like, like, like, how old are you? She's like, I'm 17. He's like and that's, like, confirmed?
Alfredo Brown:I was like, oh. But are you great.
Matthew Kopfhamer:But are you 17 or 17? And that's you know?
Jagger May:Yeah. Look. Bro, if you've worked in a restaurant, it's every time, dawg. There's it's always going on.
Matthew Kopfhamer:40 year old dude who's just like, oh, y'all girls.
Alfredo Brown:Yeah. Oh, shit. I didn't bring my water.
Samantha Holt:Don't do that voice again.
Matthew Kopfhamer:No. I'm sorry.
Jagger May:Hate that. Was established.
Samantha Holt:That was creepy.
Alfredo Brown:Koff, you're too good at it too. Not a fan.
Jagger May:He works in a restaurant. That's what it's
Matthew Kopfhamer:one of the bartenders who's 20 one of the bartenders who's 27 is dating a 40 year old, and we're all like, that's gross. And she's like, no. He loves him. I'm like, no. He does not.
Alfredo Brown:Yeah.
Samantha Holt:No. He doesn't. He doesn't.
Matthew Kopfhamer:You had COVID, and he's fucked another woman while you had COVID. So, no, he doesn't love you. Like, what are
Jagger May:we doing? And the way that we're filming these is, like, every location, we're filming, like, 20, and it's all AdLib. Like, all we have is just, the concept, and we're ripping shit off. So I've written, like, five of just this weird restaurant dude that I have seen a thousand times over and over again. And two of them were named Jeremy.
Jagger May:I didn't make this shit up. Like like like, I I hope Jeremy fucking sees this, and he's like, oh, wow. I hope he wasn't thinking about me. And I'm like, if the shoe fits, bud. Sorry, Jeremy.
Samantha Holt:If the perv shoe fits
Alfredo Brown:Yeah. Too. Alright, kids. Well, a couple of us have a heart out at eleven.
Jagger May:Let's get it going. Let's roll.
Alfredo Brown:Let's get the heart in. I have one request.
Jagger May:Let me look at the show
Samantha Holt:she's Didn't like that. Mm-mm.
Alfredo Brown:Didn't like it. Softed? Take it back.
Matthew Kopfhamer:No. No. No.
Alfredo Brown:No. Let's just not go in.
Vignesh Doraiswamy:Let's let's just stay out. Let let's stay out. It's okay.
Samantha Holt:We don't there's no things in.
Alfredo Brown:It's only weird if you guys are making it weird. This is Let's just let's
Matthew Kopfhamer:just get it started.
Alfredo Brown:Let's just get started.
Jagger May:I just watched Secret Wars. Weird. I just watched Secret Wars, and all I could think about is Nick Fury. So I I'm Nick Fury. Even when I'm out, I'm still in.
Jagger May:Almost turned the show off. I was like, what am I
Matthew Kopfhamer:Oh, you're talking about Secret Evasion? Oh, that show sucks.
Jagger May:Yeah. Secret
Vignesh Doraiswamy:Evasion. So
Matthew Kopfhamer:fucking bad.
Alfredo Brown:Yeah. It's it's pretty awful. It is tragic. Does everybody else show shit?
Jagger May:Yeah. I have a show shit. Can we not talk about any conservative shit until the end and they're bitching? And I'm talking about me.
Alfredo Brown:I don't have any of that
Matthew Kopfhamer:on here. The woke complaints. Yeah. I don't I don't
Alfredo Brown:have any woke complaints on here, and I kinda don't wanna even give it breath. Thank
Samantha Holt:you. It's stupid. Let's not talk about it.
Alfredo Brown:Like, I don't even really wanna do the comparison of this versus Man of Steel. I just kinda wanna see, like, where we see it compared to other Superman iterations as a whole. Mhmm. Because, like, I don't wanna welcome Snyder bro shit either. I'm not trying to welcome, you know, woke talk.
Jagger May:Oh, that's not gonna be the thumbnail? The like, I I thought you're gonna be the thumb fuck Snyder. Just look.
Matthew Kopfhamer:Snyder froze.
Alfredo Brown:Make sure
Samantha Holt:it's in red. Yeah. In red.
Jagger May:Suck suck Snyder. Snyder?
Alfredo Brown:Yeah. That doesn't work. Snyder?
Matthew Kopfhamer:Suck a fat one.
Alfredo Brown:It doesn't work well. It doesn't work well. I'm just
Jagger May:for chopping things. Either well, someone's getting sucked or fucked either way.
Alfredo Brown:Alright.
Jagger May:Alright. Now we're ready. Now
Alfredo Brown:we start.
Samantha Holt:Spoiler alert.
Alfredo Brown:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Just do
Jagger May:a It's Vic. What's Vic?
Samantha Holt:Just say it.
Alfredo Brown:I'll do I'll just do an intro, and then you know what, Vic? You're you're you're here. So that's half the battle. Let's have you do a spoiler, warning.