Cinematic Universe

What happens when people who are nerds about comic book movies AND nerds about the London Underground get to talk about a comic book movie that has dodgy London Underground geography in it? Well... you get this podcast, basically. But honestly, we do find things to talk about in Thor: The Dark World other than Thornington Crescent. We've also got an unusual news roundup, in that we knew the Infinity War trailer was on the way when we recorded but hadn't actually seen it yet; and another piece of news actually broke live during the record... Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

You wouldn't think that the simple fact of Hawkeye not being on those Infinity War magazine covers could lead to a fifty-seven minute discussion, could you? I bet you definitely wouldn't think there'd be a song in there, either. Well, Joe and James have got news for you. Actually, that's not true, they haven't got "news", that's sort of the problem. Anyway... enjoy this episode! Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Younger listeners may not remember this, but there was a time when if you made a superhero comedy, you were greeted with outrage rather than great reviews and massive box office numbers. But is the problem with Superman III merely that it's a comedy, or more that it's not a very good one? What's more, can Seb find a way to argue that actually it might be the best of the Reeve films? Find out on an episode where we do actually eventually get around to discussing the film, after a news roundup including New Mutants, that Shazam costume, a possible Silver Surfer movie, and Kristen Wiig maybe being a Wonder Woman villain. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

James has been driven off the podcast by a baying, pitchfork-wielding mob after daring to criticise [SPOILER REMOVED] on our Black Panther episode. He'll be back next week (maybe), but in the meantime Joe and Seb have regrouped to take a run at the latest comic book movie and TV news - including the continuing phenomenal box office take of that film, Joss Whedon departing Batgirl (lol), a whole load of brilliant Sabrina casting, Adam Strange being the surprise star of Krypton, and some non-spoilery The Tick chatter because we just couldn't wait to talk about how good it is. Plus! What Black Panther spinoff would we each like to see happen? Find out in this week's Pitch segment! Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

At the time of publishing this episode, Black Panther has already taken over $200m at the box office. And we estimate that around 56% of that take has purely been down to Amon Warmann going to see it repeatedly. He joins Joe and James to discuss the film that's already looking like it might be the comic book movie event of a year that also includes Infinity War. As per usual with a new release, there's no news section - so it's straight into a spoiler-free opinion section before we delve into the spoilery specifics. And our regular trio will be back next week to catch up on the news as normal. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With an extra week's wait before you get our Black Panther episode, we thought we'd get together for a quick news episode in the meantime. Spoilers: it ended up not being that quick. We look at trailers for Deadpool 2 and Venom (we liked one and not the other, SEE IF YOU CAN GUESS WHICH), the Infinity War publicity's continuing absence of Hawkeye, the Marvel Studios 10 Years photo, the Jessica Jones season 2 trailer, Joaquin Phoenix's rumoured Joker casting, Michael Bay's rumoured Lobo movie, the possibility of Tessa Thompson playing a rebooted Kick-Ass, and Stitcher's Wolverine: The Long Night scripted podcast. And while there's not a pitch segment this time around, you do get to hear which comedians James thinks should play Batman and the Joker. It's probably not the ones you would expect. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Ant-Man and The Wasp trailer, the Metropolis TV show announcement, the ethics of adapting Watchmen yet again, and some Daredevil season 3 tidbits come under the news microscope - and there's also time for a hefty dose of comics news chat, thanks to the announcement of DC's plans for Action Comics #1000 and Brian Michael Bendis assuming control of the Superman franchise. PLUS! Who should Gary Oldman play in the MCU? Find out in the latest new-format Pitch segment! Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

After our new-for-2018 format changes seemed to go down well, we've made another one by getting rid of Seb! No, not really, he's just on holiday - but that means that it's time for Film4's Michael Leader to once again join us to cover a Hellboy movie, with 2008's The Golden Army. There's also a run through the latest news - but don't forget, if you want to hear more news discussion and the entries in this episode's Pitch segment, you'll have to tune in to next week's minisode... Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For the first time in the new and improved minisode format, Seb and James join Joe to talk through the latest comic book news. Discussion includes the changes to Fox's superhero schedule, Gambit's latest directorial woes, Flashpoint's new writers, the latest on Shazam, some tidbits from the MCU, and The Tick's Season 2 renewal. All that, plus 'The Pitch' finds settles into its new home on the minisodes. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new year brings some format changes designed to keep the main episodes a bit tighter - so of course this has naturally led to our longest ever episode. But it's The Dark Knight - you didn't exactly want us to run short on it, did you? We also take a look at some recent news including the uncannily-predicted-by-us casting of Kiernan Shipka as Sabrina, some upstairs shuffling of chairs at DC, and (it broke literally as we were recording) finally getting a solo Black Widow movie. The latest news on Gambit, meanwhile, broke just after we recorded - but check in next week for our new-format minisode in which we'll ALL be discussing the news! There's also a slight change to how we'll be handling recommendations and The Pitch from now on (stay tuned to the very end to hear about that), and after three years of explaining to Joe comic book concepts that he doesn't understand, he reckons he knows everything about comics now, so hear us try to prove him wrong. It's the all-new, all-improved, no-but-seriously-they-won

We're back for part two of the 2017 Cinematic Universe Awards - with a brief interruption for a "Man of Steel incident" in Seb's house - in which we run through the remaining awards categories for the films and TV shows we discussed on the podcast in 2017. We also do our customary induction(s) into the Hall of Fame, and there's some selected highlights from this year's Pitch segments! 00:53 - The Howard T Duck Award for the Best Bad Movie 10:12 - Best Supporting Actress 19:55 - Best Screenplay 28:23 - Best Villain 37:05 - Best Song or Musical Moment 45:47 - Worst Film 49:41 - Best Director 60:07 - Best Actress 66:52 - Best Actor 75:25 - Best Film 89:32 - Hall of Fame Inductions 105:45 - Best of The Pitch (2017) 118:56 - Coming Soon... Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Because we haven't argued enough in 2017 already, it's that time again: the CINEMATIC UNIVERSE END-OF-YEAR-AWARDS! Or, as Joe has decided to call them this year, "The Cuppies". He's joined by Seb and James to talk through the best (and indeed the not-so-best) of the films and shows we discussed in 2017. As usual, it's a long chat, so we've done it in two parts - in this first half, you'll hear us cover: 02:15 - Best Supporting Actor 11:16 - Best Costume 21:11 - Best Score 28:10 - Best Couple 39:06 - Best New Film 48:13 - Best Hero 61:11 - Best TV Show 73:32 - Best Casting 84:32 - Best Song Come back next week for the rest of the awards, including the coveted Howard T Duck Award, Best Film and new Hall of Fame inductees! Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We do get around to discussing Mike Mitchell's 2005 film Sky High eventually - but in truth, this episode is really about the news. We've got nearly an hour and a half of chat as we dive deep on the Disney/Fox takeover (which hadn't been confirmed when we recorded, hence the way we talk about it!), and the trailers for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and (yes, we got around to it eventually) Avengers: Infinity War. Oh, and then in the Pitch segment we have maybe our bitterest civil war to date. It's all happening! 00:00 - Intro/Explain a Concept 05:43 - News 92:12 - Movie Discussion 120:55 - Recommendations 125:29 - The Pitch Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

While we wait for Joe to catch up with reading the million or so comics we've recommended over the last month, Seb and James have gathered for an hour-longrun through a bunch of recent news. We discuss Jude Law's casting in Captain Marvel, Lizzy Caplan's casting in Gambit, and the ongoing fall-out from Justice League's wet splat of a landing. We also take a look at what's going on in TV with the recent launches of Punisher, The Gifted and Runaways - and then it's a bit of a deep dive into some of the major comics news at the top of Marvel and DC. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We unite our very own League, as Joe and James discuss Zack Snyder (and Joss Whedon)'s long-awaited DCEU team-up movie: Justice League. Yes, that's right, we said Joe and James - not Seb. Seb is definitely not on this podcast. We've left him out of all the pre-publicity, so of course he's not on the episode, even though he was present for the recording session. If he's on the episode, we'd have said he was on the episode, right? 00:00 - Intro/Explain a Concept 09:40 - Spoiler-Free Discussion 25:37 - Spoiler-Filled Discussion 110:31 - Recommendations 117:48 - The Pitch Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We come from the land of the ice and snow From the midnight sun, where the hot springs flow The hammer of the gods We'll drive our ships to new lands To fight the horde, and sing and cry Valhalla, I am coming! Yes, it's our Thor: Ragnarok episode. Slightly late for the UK release, but just in time for the US one! If you somehow haven't seen it yet, then listen to the first half an hour or so for our spoiler-free opinions; everyone else, listen on as Joe, Seb and James take apart what is clearly the outright funniest MCU film to date but try to figure out if there's much else going on beneath that. And argue about Valkyrie. 00:00 - Intro/Explain a Concept 10:50 - Spoiler-Free Chat 35:00 - Spoiler-Filled Chat 123:00 - Recommendations 127:28 - The Pitch Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It's a rare two-hander this week, as Joe and Seb discuss Brad Bird's 2004 Pixar classic The Incredibles - including Seb's recent brush with one of the cast members! There's also a look back at some recent news, including New Mutants and Justice League trailers, and a brilliant obscure factoid that means Gore Verbinski's Gambit movie is definitely fated to happen. 00:00 - Intro / Explain a Concept 10:45 - News 29:50 - Movie Discussion 106:38 - Recommendations 110:20 - The Pitch Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Joe catches up with a trailer-heavy news fortnight before diving into Seb and James' heavily metatextual Unbreakable-inspired comics recommendations: Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee's The Sentry, and Grant Morrison and Chas Truog's Animal Man: Deus Ex Machina. 00:00 - Intro 01:28 - News 09:38 - The Sentry 16:38 - Animal Man: Deus Ex Machina Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this special bonus episode of Cinematic Universe, James is joined by Film4's Mike Leader for some (broadly) spoiler-free discussions of two comicbook related biographies which previewed at the 2017 BFI London Film Festival: My Friend Dahmer, adapted from the graphic novel of the same name, and Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, which explores the interactions of the trio of polyamorous radical feminists who created Wonder Woman in the 1940s. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It's the film that kickstarted a cinematic universe of its own - we just didn't know it at the time. We look back at a superhero classic - but was it ever correctly pitched that way? - in the shape of M. Night Shyamalan's 2000 thriller Unbreakable. In the news section, Seb and James give their reaction to the CW's announcement of a Dark Archiverse Sabrina spinoff; and in a longer-than-usual introductory segment Joe gets caught up with what's been going on at DC and Marvel lately. 00:00 - Intro/Explain a Concept 18:03 - News 30:55 - Movie Discussion 95:00 - Recommendations 103:53 - The Pitch Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/cinematicuniverse.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.