It's the superhero movie of the century (until the next one!) and Anthony and Andrew and dusting off the mics to tackle Marvel's The Avengers's: Infinity War! Can anything stop the Grimace (from winning a best actor Oscar?) Would this all be better as a high-end tv show on some kind of exclusive Marvel app? How does E.T. smell? How awesome is that …

We've not been around for a while. Here's why! We talk about Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the good, the bad, and the fan reaction that killed Andrew's interest in having a fan reaction. And as such, we take a crack at it too. Is Last Jedi an deep cut into Star Wars lore that elevates the series? Is it a victim of conservative conspiracy? Or is it just…

Holy centennial, Birdman! I mean, holy centennial. Birdman! For our 100th episode, we take on the only superhero movie ever to win Best Picture, 2014's Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue Ignorance). Is there anything objectively more important about "high-art" theatre compared to "low-art" blockbusters? What is the relationship between love and tru…

Just by way of a trigger warning, we have a pretty frank discussion of rape in movies for a bit here. Which is basically what this dark, dark movie was about, so you probably knew that going in, but just to be aware. It's Halloween, and we finally get to do the halloweeniest request we've ever got, and do the 1994iest superhero movie of all, The Cr…

Awesome! Bodacious! Podcastic! We watched the most underrated comic book movie of all time, 1990's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Is April actually a terrible reporter? Why the hell are they throwing their bloodied, comatose brother head first into a half-filled bathtub? How does Splinter both teach his family mindfulness and love, and then WEAPONIZ…

WHO ARE/IS MIGHTY ORBOTS!? Andrew has no idea, he's never heard of this. But one of our listeners requested it, so we're diving into this extremely frenetic, bizarre, but immaculately rendered 80s cartoon. Does putting on a change of clothes actually transform you into their purpose? What are the grammatical logistics behind plural names used for s…

We're rocking it old (pre)school and talking about a celebrated trio of Sesame Street superheroes! Does the vigilantism of Super Grover do more harm to the fabric of society than good? Is Captain Vegetable secretly in the pocket of Big Veg? Does Teeny Little Super Guy have a secret superpower in his killer soundtrack? Why the hell doesn't Anthony l…

By listener request, this week we take on the neo-pulp serial/cg proof of concept picture Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow! Is this a backdoor Crimson Skies movie? What does this movie have in common with Nancy comic strips in terms of using archetypal symbols to communicate? Why is Jude Law so immaculately, tortuously handsome? If Hollywood a…

Enough of these dreary, grimdark Supermen! Let's go back to the carefree days of 1975 to a sprightly supermusical, featuring singing gangsters, colour(less) sets, and... Superman committing suicide? How close is Perry White's musical newsroom to Andrew's actual newroom? (pretty close) Why doesn't anyone like Robert Altman's Popeye? Is this musical …

Well, you should just call us a bunch of little Brian Setzer Orchestras cause it looks like we're bringing back swing! Eh, that was a pretty belaboured metaphor. But not as belaboured as whatever's going on in the much-loathed Sam Raimi-headed goulash of a movie: Spider-Man 3. How much of Sandman's sand can you replace and have him still be Sandman…

With the Hawthorns MIA, Anthony has staged a coup and taken the throne for himself! Awesome! Machinatious! Nathan Murphy comes on the show to help pick apart Game of Thrones through the No Time for Heroics lens. Is there a hero in this show? What does the concept of heroism mean in a show with so many villains and shades of grey? Download this show…

It's Jack Kirby's 100th birthday, and despite being one of the most prolific and influential artists of the 20th century, there are very few movies based on his work. Unless you count Abraxas, Star Wars, the upcoming Justice League and the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. So we took a look at a movie that was a secret adaptation of one of his most…

Everyday we're out there making podcasts (woo hoo) and this particular one is about one of the most awkward-to-pretend-to-be-at-recess superheroes of them all, Gizmoduck! He of the popular 80s cartoon Ducktales (woo hoo). What is the ethnic history of a quasi-multicultural society in a city called Duckberg ruled by a duck ethnic elite? What exactly…

Superheroes are often reporters, or at least giving themselves a position to receive signals of distress. So why not an advice column? Enter Poochie! No, not that Poochie. 80s Poochie! Is there any technical difference between Poochie and Batman or Iron Man? Where does Poochie's C-3PO droid get its human suit? How many other superheroes have their …

Once upon a time in the '60s, two cult properties arose that would command huge, obsessive fanbases for decades to come. Turn that 6 upside down, and they finally meet, at the height of the '90s speculator comics market, in 1996's highly improbable crossover Star Trek/X-Men! What is Andrew's dark and extremely embarrassing history as a Trekie? Is i…

We cap off X-Mens in July to check out the much maligned X-Men: Apocalypse! And also all the other movies happening inside X-Men: Apocalypse. Would we automatically assume a super-powered being out of context was a god? Does destroying all nuclear weapons make Apocalypse history's greatest hero? Why are we doing Phoenix again immediately after that…

X:Men superfan Mark Denine of Escape Quest is back to explain the intricacies of smashing two versions of a franchise together with 2014's Days of Future Past! Why does this movie go though its entire plot twice? What happened to the Bannerman Park Peace-A-Chord? Would JFK had won the presidency if everyone knew he was a creepy mutant fishman? What…

Megan Murphy returns to take us all to SCHOOL this week as X-Mens in July (Note: It's X-mas in July. X-Mans isn't a thing. - Anthony) continues! How do Magneto's history of suffering and war and Xavier's life of privilege and study inform their conflicting philosophies about diversity? Why are we spending so much time focusing on Hank McCoy fondlin…

It's X-Mas in July! And we're tackling one of the most maligned Marvel mutant movies mever made, X-Men: The Last Stand. Would this movie have worked better if we had made the Dark Phoenix plot and the Mutant Cure plot two separate movies? Why is Angel in this movie at all? What the heck is "head canon"? We're working on the next episode, but first …

We get our black market unreleased pilot dealer Jesse Codner to cut us some premium 90s with Superfriends! Wait, sorry, that should read Super F*R*I*E*N*D*S. It's 1997's Justice League of America! What happens when a bunch of schlubby man-children are the worlds greatest heroes? Were selfies using full-size studio cameras with 90s snapchat filters …

Oh, we are just DONE with all those lesser American heroes out there, folks. Time to skip right to the top and talk about the GREATEST American Hero, or a least what was passing for one in 1981. Why does this self-described comedy drama TV series have the most terrifying opening in the history of this podcast? Who would win in a fight between GAH's…

It's the movie that saved the DCCU! We couldn't wait, and just dropped everything to go see Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman in theatres! SPOILER! isn't in this, she's in the Bat-family. But Spoilers anyway. Why/how/wherefore shoehorn the Greek Pantheon into a mismatched Judaeo-Christian monotheistic box? How much should the political views of an actor …

There's Something About Wolverine! We visit what Wizard Magazine called the "Best Superhero Movie of All Time" and figure out if we can find one mistake in that venerable publication's sterling history with X2: X-Men United! Is everyone okay with this "I can kill the world with my brain" machine Xavier is just using as an overclocked peeping tom ma…

Far in the dim past... when showbiz and bodybuilding merged into shoddybuilding... we got to have a Schwarzenegger love-fest with his first "major" movie in which he's learning English and playing one of the world's first superheroes, or certainly most prominent capital "H" heroes, with the 1970 bizarreness Hercules in New York. How easy is it for …

Ainsley returns just in time to help us through a creepy inversion of Captain America's origin story with the 2015 Korean thriller The Silenced. The classic Simon and Kirby supersoldier story takes on a decidedly more gruesome turn if you remove consent. Why haven't writers been comfortable with female power fantasy for the last thousand years? Is …

We've talked about it enough, so we might as well do it. We gather for a meeting with Jesse Codner to discuss 1990's Dick Tracy. What the heck does everyone in this movie have against Tess Trueheart? What was the name of that lizard dog in Star Wars? No, the other lizard dog. What is the secret behind the incalculable, alluring animal magnetism of …

Duck putties. Anyway, turns out 70's Japanese Spider-Man is a lot cooler than yours. Did Power Rangers actually rip off the idea of giant robots from Spider-man? How much cooler would Spider-man be if he just screamed "I am an emissary of HELL!" before attacking people? Are all spiders this vindictive? Do spiders have nipples? Recording this episod…

For this terrifying tale of spooks, monsters, and money laundry, Justin Tucker from the upcoming Monster Squad Minute joins us to tackle one of the great legendary team-ups we never expected to see when Scooby Doo meets Batman and Robin! Why does a cartoon have a laugh track? Is the Wayne Corporation in the business of putting well-meaning amusemen…

The trailer for Thor: Ragnarok broke the internet! I guess? Do the kids still say that? Anyway, we take a look at the new Guardiansised Thor and the idea of movie trailers in general, what works, what doesn't, what they should give away and what they should avoid a all costs. Plus! We revisit our first One Shot and reveal what we thought about Rogu…

Heading back to the beginning of the modern superhero movie era with the movie that probably deserves the most credit for that, 1998's Blade! How did this movie manage to rip-off the Matrix two years before the Matrix came out? Have you ever been a kid trying to sneak into an R-rated movie only to get booted by an infamous bemulleted ticket-taker? …

When Scott Bakula gets a schnoz full of space gas (*spass) he develops the ability to regenerate indefinitely, becomes I-Man, and decides to A. never have that name mentioned in this movie, and B. do what any self-respecting modern superhero would do, and become a spy. Lots of movies have musical themes for the superhero, but how many have themes f…

This summer we're getting a brand new rebooted Spider-Man, so we decided to all the way back to the beginning and visit the first time we got a brand new rebooted Spider-Man with 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man! Does this movie have a more streamlined, dare we say, BETTER origin story than the original? Were Peter Parker's Mom and Dad open about bein…

We take a dip in bubbling, poisonous, mutating, burning 80s hot tubs and come out the other side changed into a shambling mockery of a podcast that decides to watch 1984's The Toxic Avenger! Why is this horrific movie shot so well? Is it really a car chase if the guy chasing is on top of the car? Would you quit a movie if they made you point a shot…

We're back to heroes of myth and legend with the epochal cornerstone of western literature, the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf! But this ain't your daddy's Beowulf, oh no! It's a bizarre techno-feudalist medieval gas-powered low budget direct-to-VHS tour de force staring everyone's favorite Highlander, Christopher Lambert! Who would win in a fight betwee…

Since we're gluttons for punishment, GLUTTONS I say, we dive back into the franchise for which we've received the most hate mail with Hellboy II: The Golden Army! Did we really need a sexy shower scene with just Hellboy in? Why hasn't Luke Goss become a bigger name actor? How weirded out were you by Andrew's bizarre fascination with the sound of fa…

It's an all-new, all-different Batman when Joel Schumacher takes the reins for 1995's Batman Forever! Is it redundant to have boiling acid as a trap,rather than just acid? What kind of paperwork do you have to go through to adopt a 40-year-old man? Does the frenetic neon-pop style of this movie mask a really nuanced take on childhood trauma? Get re…

Anthony is dancing the deathy dance of deadly lifey death and also sick, so it's down to just Andrew and Ainsley to tackle the early 2000s Adult Swim series, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law! Can we tell jokes about race without being racist? What does making a superhero a lawyer say about forcing mature themes into kids stories for an aging audienc…

We (finally) get to Ainsley's Christmas wish with the gorgeous, epic masterpiece of wuxia cinema 2002's Hero, from director Zhang Yimou. How different are cultural definitions of heroism (and superheroism) between the US and China?Has any superhero movie in the last two decades come close to this in a subtle exploration of what it means to be a her…

Yeah, so this weeks episode literally got snowed out... thrice. So while we dig ourselves out and figure that out, here's a wee talk about what Ainsley and Andrew find troublesome about the 'Verse in Firefly (even though one of them still totally loves it.) Enjoy!

Anthony finally gets his wish and gets to do the movie he's been waiting for since before episode one: Scott Pilgrim vs the World! Is it possible to make a comic, (or a work in any soundless medium) about music? On the other hand, can you adapt comics as a medium to a movie if the original was adapting video games as a medium to comics? What is the…

It's been a rough 2016, so we're treating ourselves to a month of Christmas wishes, starting with Andrew's wish: one of his childhood VHS rentals all the way from Wales, Superted! Will we discover the secret of Superted's secret word? How many Doctor Who mainstays can we fit into this cast? How big of a rascal is former Secretary General of Egyptia…

NOVENGERS concludes with our reevaluation of the much maligned sequel to Marvel's The Avengers, the substantially more sensibly titled Avengers: Age of Ultron (Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire). Is Age of Ultron an underrated, better put together movie than the better received first installment in this series? Has Stan Lee reached Stanception he…

This is it! One of the biggest, most ambitious superhero movies ever made, it changed the business and made "shared universe" the watchwords for green-eyed Hollywood producers for years to come. The epic finale of Novengers begins with The Avengers 2012! Are the Chitauri the perennial alien-ex-machina of the Marvel universe? Which media mogul just …

Welp, two of our number are laid up with the flu, and also just got a very pokey puppy who it turns out is more of a DC girl (see below). So instead of a new show, we're taking the Avengers (and our show) back where it began with episode seven: 2008's Iron Man! Be sure to stay tuned for next week and part one of our epic NOVENGERS finale as we take…

Get ready for a huge steaming pile of Cap! For part two of NOVENGERS, the crew takes on their most requested movie and checks out the infamous 1990 feature Captain America. Is Cap a bad enough dude to rescue the President? Is Italian Red Skull spending his spare time tickling the ivories of a nuclear piano? And are we finally seeing a Marvel Comics…

It's the first episode of NOVENGERS as all this month the crew checks out Avengersish movies leading up to our two-part Avengers/Avengers 2 spectacular! First up, this ain't not your daddy's Nick Fury with David Hasselhoff slipping into the eyepatch to give 'er a whirl for the 1998 tv movie Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD Is there ever any reason to bui…

It's Halloween! And around these parts, we like to spook it spook it. So this episode the crew steps a little outside their genre and matches wits with the bastard son of horror and superheroics: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors! Is this whole series a metaphor for an older generation attempting to impose rules and ideals on the youn…

For our official Creepy Clown Watch 2016 episode, we welcome back Ainsley Hawthorn and invite her to become the Hermione of our podcast team (and argue over who's Ron enough to take the heat) just in time to throw her in at the deep end with a good old-fashioned Halloween hazing, forcing her to watch 1997's Spawn. How many sheiks does a party need …

All the world is waiting for her! And we're going to have to keep waiting, because this 2011 Wonder Woman staring Adrianne Palicki is never, ever being released. Jesse Codner's back from our Green Lantern episode to talk about another pilot that crashed and burned. What exactly is Wonder Woman's corporation in the business of, other than scholarshi…

The transformation of the superhero into James Bond that was started in Condorman (yay) comes to fruition with 2005's Batman Begins. How is this movie just a long-form adaptation of a ethical thought experiment called the Trolley Problem? Why on Earth is Ken Watanabe such a poor judge of friends? How badly does Bruce Wayne fail at sticking to his o…