Cinematic Universe

It’s our first ever Halloween Special! And by “special”, we mean it’s just a two-hander with Seb and James, and there’s no news, and we’re covering two movies in a shorter space of time than we’d normally afford to one movie. But there are good reasons for all of this, and we’re delighted to be talking about this pair of seminal early ‘90s black comedy films that happen to be based on a comic strip (although spoilers, one of them is much, much better than the other).Rounding off the episode, meanwhile, we spend far longer than we intended to explaining and outlining our position on HBO’s Watchmen TV show, and specifically why we’re not watching/covering it and What Our Whole Deal Is Anyway. We weren’t necessarily going to do this, but a few of you asked, so what we’ve done is stick it at the end where you can switch off if you really don’t want to hear it…00:00 – Intro / Explain a Concept13:45 – Movie Discussion69:35 – Watchmen DiscussionCinematic Universe is supported by the generosity of our backers on Patreon, who also get to hear episodes ad-free along with occasional bonus content! Check out our page and consider subscribing at patreon.com/cinematicuniverseYou can find our comic book movie themed merch designs at Redbubble, and follow us on Twitter @cine_verse.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Seb and James spend a lot of time talking about corporate structure and overarching narrative coherence at Marvel, in the wake of Kevin Feige's promotion to Supreme Overlord of Everything. We also give our thoughts on the latest casting news from The Batman, the possibility of Tom Holland making it Into the Venom-Verse, those wacky The Suicide Squad set pics, and what might be going on in The Boys season two.Cinematic Universe is supported by the generosity of our backers on Patreon, who also get to hear episodes ad-free along with occasional bonus content! Check out our page and consider subscribing at patreon.com/cinematicuniverseYou can find our comic book movie themed merch designs at Redbubble, and follow us on Twitter @cine_verse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Okay, look: it’s Joker. Whatever we say about it is going to annoy somebody somewhere, right? But Seb and Caroline are joined by some bloke called Joe who apparently used to do a podcast, or something, to talk about Todd Phillips’ divisive, controversial, and possibly actually surprisingly a bit boring “not a comic book movie” comic book movie.Regular listeners will know that we don’t ordinarily do a news section on new releases, in favour of a spoiler-free thoughts section; however, we had a lot to catch up on that we wanted to talk about, including the happy ending of the Spidey/MCU saga, the new Birds of Prey trailer, and that Brandon Routh costume in the Crisis crossover. So we take a spin through all of that, and then a brief tease of our opinions before we get into the spoilery stuff.00:00 – Intro / Explain a Concept13:50 – News44:38 – Spoiler-Free Movie Discussion49:50 – Spoiler-Filled Movie DiscussionCinematic Universe is supported by the generosity of our backers on Patreon, who also get to hear episodes ad-free along with occasional bonus content! Check out our page and consider subscribing at patreon.com/cinematicuniverseYou can find our comic book movie themed merch designs at Redbubble, and follow us on Twitter @cine_verse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re righting a longstanding wrong as we finally, finally get Steve Lacey of The Fantasticast onboard to talk about a Fantastic Four movie. Having enjoyed the original 2005 film a surprising amount, how did we feel about the Doug-Jones-cum-Laurence-Fishburne-enhanced sequel?In the news, we run through the casting announcement for The Suicide Squad, giving Seb the opportunity to talk for a while about a logo. And Steve catches us up on everything that’s going on in the Arrowverse in the wake of the latest Crisis announcement.00:00 – Intro / Explain a Concept10:10 – News40:45 – Movie DiscussionCinematic Universe is supported by the generosity of our backers on Patreon, who also get to hear episodes ad-free along with occasional bonus content! Check out our page and consider subscribing at patreon.com/cinematicuniverseYou can find our comic book movie themed merch designs at Redbubble, and follow us on Twitter @cine_verse. Follow Steve on Twitter @quizlacey and listen to his podcast at thefantasticast.com.This episode was produced by Andrew Hickey. Find Andrew's podcast A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs at 500songs.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James finally gets his Monkey’s Paw wish, and has persuaded Seb and returning special guest Caroline Siede to watch Robert Rodriguez (and James Cameron)’s Alita: Battle Angel! But will they find themselves surprisingly charmed by it, or just mock him relentlessly for fancying a robot?Meanwhile, the news section gives Seb the opportunity to talk about Peter Capaldi and Grant Morrison for quite a while, so there’s his wish taken care of as well. We also look at the Birds of Prey teaser, the latest hilarious update on New Mutants, and yet more on the ongoing Spider-Man situation, because how could we ever get fed up of talking about that?00:00 – Intro / Explain a Concept09:00 – News36:42 – Movie DiscussionCinematic Universe is supported by the generosity of our backers on Patreon, who also get to hear episodes ad-free along with occasional bonus content! Check out our page and consider subscribing at patreon.com/cinematicuniverseYou can find our comic book movie themed merch designs at Redbubble, and follow us on Twitter @cine_verse. And find Caroline on Twitter @CarolineSiede.This episode was produced by Andrew Hickey. Find Andrew's podcast A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs at 500songs.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're finally back doing minisodes again! Seb and James have a run through all the Marvel news out of D23, which now feels a long time ago; as does the Joker trailer, but we give our thoughts on that, which were recorded before all the post-reviews Discourse started to happen. We also have time for a quick bit of consideration of the Titans trailer and DC's televisual future.Cinematic Universe is supported by the generosity of our backers on Patreon, who also get to hear episodes ad-free along with occasional bonus content! Check out our page and consider subscribing at patreon.com/cinematicuniverseYou can find our comic book movie themed merch designs at Redbubble, and follow us on Twitter @cine_verse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We head into Cinematic Universe’s new era with one of the biggest films we’ve yet tackled – and it’s so big, we had to get TWO guests to cover it! Making their long-awaited CU debuts are Sam Clements (of 90 Minutes Or Less Film Festival and Picturehouse Podcast) and Simon Renshaw (formerly of Picturehouse Podcast). And yes, there will be Bane impressions. We also take a run through the latest comic book movie and TV news, including a breakdown of the Spider-Man/Marvel Studios, er, breakdown; but we should note that this was recorded before the D23 weekend, so we’ll be catching up on the rest of the news and any further Spidey developments with an upcoming minisode.And there’s a new game at the end. Which we don’t want to spoil for you.00:00 – Intro / Explain a Concept08:14 – News33:48 – Movie DiscussionCinematic Universe is supported by the generosity of our backers on Patreon, who also get to hear episodes ad-free along with occasional bonus content! Check out our page and consider subscribing at patreon.com/cinematicuniverseYou can find our comic book movie themed merch designs at Redbubble, and follow us on Twitter @cine_verse.This episode was produced by Andrew Hickey. Find Andrew's podcast A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs at 500songs.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Well, here we are. It's our hundredth episode, we're tackling one of the most self-referential-joke-filled superhero movies of all time - and one that some people have been waiting ages for us to do - and what's more, we've got some Extremely Significant Personal News to announce, which you'll hear at the outset. There are laughs, there's reminiscence, there are quizzes, there are listener tweets, there's a guest appearance from a four-year-old, there are songs, there's refusing to let the Far From Home arguments go, there might even be some tears. And at the end of it, Cinematic Universe will never be the same again.Cinematic Universe is supported by the generosity of our backers on Patreon, who also get to hear episodes ad-free along with occasional bonus content! Check out our page and consider subscribing at patreon.com/cinematicuniverseYou can find our comic book movie themed merch designs at Redbubble, and follow us on Twitter @cine_verse.00:00 – Intro/CU News Update14:40 – Movie & TV News34:09 – 100th Episode Special1:00:00 – Movie Discussion Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Almost coinciding with its twentieth anniversary theatrical re-release, Seb and James are joined by comics critic and editor Claire Napier to look back at the Wachowskis' era-defining sci-fi classic. And if you're going "Hang on, that's not a comic book movie" or "Hang on, that's not a superhero movie", well, we get into both of those discussions, and a lot more besides.Elsewhere, with Joe temporarily absent and not much else in the way of news to pick up on after our mammoth SDCC special, we take the opportunity for a rare edition of Comics Corner to look at House of X, the end of Giant Days, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen and a few other assorted recent ongoings.Cinematic Universe is supported by the generosity of our backers on Patreon, who also get to hear episodes ad-free along with occasional bonus content! Check out our page and consider subscribing at patreon.com/cinematicuniverseFind out more about Claire’s anthology comic Bun & Tea and back it over at Kickstarter.You can find our comic book movie themed merch designs at Redbubble, and follow us on Twitter @cine_verse.This episode was produced by Andrew Hickey. Find Andrew's podcast A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs at 500songs.com.·        00:00 – Intro/Explain a Concept·        06:15 – Comics Corner·        29:25 – Movie Discussion Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Let's do an hour or so on the SDCC news," we said. Two and a half hours later, we emerged. Unsurprisingly, we had a lot to say about all that MCU stuff - although even when we're done with Thor: Love & Thunder, Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and all the rest, there's still plenty more to cover. We chat in depth about the Brandon Routh Flarrowverse Crisis news, and the trailers for The King's Man, Snowpiercer, Jay & Silent Bob Reboot and - yes, we're sorry, we had An Argument again - Watchmen. You love it really.Cinematic Universe is supported by the generosity of our backers on Patreon, who also get to hear episodes ad-free along with occasional bonus content! Check out our page and consider subscribing at patreon.com/cinematicuniverseYou can find our comic book movie themed merch designs at Redbubble, and follow us on Twitter @cine_verse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It feels like an age since we last did a Minisode, although - the Thor 4 news that landed after we recorded this notwithstanding - we didn't find ourselves with a huge amount to talk about. So why is this our longest ever minisode, longer than the Endgame trailer one, longer even than all the doubled-up ones we used to call "Megasodes"? Well, because one of the things is The Sandman, something we've been waiting to talk about in detail for a while. Plus we run through a few other bits and bobs including Paper Girls, Kumail Nanjiani in The Eternals and Todd Phillips' Joker comments. And then! We take a bunch of listener questions that we solicited on the night. Plus, find out what exciting film we're doing for our next, and 99th, main episode...Oh, and there's a rare change in host for this episode. For reasons that will become quickly apparent.Cinematic Universe is supported by the generosity of our backers on Patreon, who also get to hear episodes ad-free along with occasional bonus content! Check out our page and consider subscribing at patreon.com/cinematicuniverseYou can find our comic book movie themed merch designs at Redbubble, and follow us on Twitter @cine_verse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Okay, THIS time we've finally caught up with the MCU. We really have. For the first time since we began this podcast, there does not exist an MCU movie that we haven't covered. And we're celebrating with... a surprisingly large amount of argument. Yes, the reaction to Spider-Man: Far From Home is far from universal in these corridors, so tune in to find out which one of the three of us has decided to be a grumpy sod about these lovable high-school kids, and which of us is just grumpy about not getting to talk about Mysterio enough. As per usual for a new release, we're skipping news and going spoiler-free for the opening section in case you still haven't seen it yet, before going in-depth on the implications of those post-credits scenes and... any other stuff that happens in the film.00:00 - Intro/Explain a Concept09:20 - Spoiler-Free Discussion28:25 - Spoiler-Filled DiscussionCinematic Universe is supported by the generosity of our backers on Patreon, who also get to hear episodes ad-free along with occasional bonus content! Check out our page and consider subscribing at patreon.com/cinematicuniverseYou can find our comic book movie themed merch designs at Redbubble, and follow us on Twitter @cine_verse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been a long time coming, but we have finally - finally - caught up with the MCU (or at least we would have, if we'd got this episode produced and released before Far From Home arrived in cinemas). The last MCU film to be released before we started this podcast also happens to be one of the best and most important movies not just of this series, but of the entire genre. We've an awful lot to say about it, so it's no surprise that we go somewhat long. There's also a big news catchup including Jaume Collet-Serra signing up for Black Adam, Tom King signing up for New Gods, Taika Waititi signing up for Akira, Benicio del Toro signing up for The Suicide Squad, and nobody signing up for Spawn.00:00 - Intro/Explain a Concept13:18 - News51:32 - Movie DiscussionCinematic Universe is supported by the generosity of our backers on Patreon, who also get to hear episodes ad-free along with occasional bonus content! Check out our page and consider subscribing at patreon.com/cinematicuniverseYou can find our comic book movie themed merch designs at Redbubble, and follow us on Twitter @cine_verse.This episode was produced by Andrew Hickey. Find Andrew's podcast A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs at 500songs.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The main part of Fox's X-Men franchise comes to an end with a film that... well, let's face it, it would be charitable to call it a whimper. We don't want to just relentlessly give Dark Phoenix a non-stop kicking, we'll try to find the good where we can... but let's just say that if you're Simon Kinberg, you probably don't want to be giving this one a listen. As usual with a new release, we've skipped news (there wasn't loads lately anyway), in favour of a bit of spoiler-free opinion chat before diving into more detailed discussion of a lot of really, really dumb storytelling decisions.00:00 Intro/Explain a Concept05:06 Spoiler-Free Discussion20:55 Spoiler-Filled DiscussionCinematic Universe is supported by the generosity of our backers on Patreon, who also get to hear episodes ad-free along with occasional bonus content! Check out our page and consider subscribing at patreon.com/cinematicuniverseYou can find our comic book movie themed merch designs at Redbubble, and follow us on Twitter @cine_verse.This episode was produced by Andrew Hickey. Find Andrew's podcast A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs at 500songs.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's taken its sweet time - nearly six years! - but Bong Joon-Ho's 2013 post-apocalyptic epic is finally available legally to UK viewers, courtesy of Netflix. We might have considered it for inclusion on the podcast purely based on the number of previous comic-book-movie stars featured within, but happily, it is actually based on a comic - Jacques Lob's La Transperceneige - so it counts entirely on merit. And what merit it has.Over in news, meanwhile, we give our thoughts on the Robert Battinsonman news, explain to Joe what the heck Atlas Comics is and whether they have any remotely worthwhile IP whatsoever, and Seb laments the cancellation of The Tick. You bastards.00:00 - Intro/Explain Something15:42 - News46:04 - Snowpiercer discussionCinematic Universe is supported by the generosity of our backers on Patreon, who also get to hear episodes ad-free along with occasional bonus content! Check out our page and consider subscribing at patreon.com/cinematicuniverse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Right, we're declaring a moratorium on talking about things the writers and directors of Avengers: Endgame have said about the film after its release, although not before talking for a bit about how we're not talking about it any more. Then we've got some chat on the latest Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer, a dive into the Disney/Fox release schedule (and a sad lament for the absence of Gambit), and the question of whether or not James has watched the Watchmen TV show trailer.Cinematic Universe is supported by the generosity of our backers on Patreon, who also get to hear episodes ad-free along with occasional bonus content! Check out our page and consider subscribing at patreon.com/cinematicuniverse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Well, this took us a while, didn't it? We missed the slot for it when it came out in cinemas, because of Spider-Verse. Then we missed the slot for it when it came out on home release, because of Endgame. And we've even had a slight delay on getting it out to you after having recorded it. But here, finally, finally, is our Aquaman episode. We promise we haven't just been avoiding talking about it.But we do have some stuff to get through before we do, including a news roundup that takes in a whole bunch of Endgame aftermath and theorising (even if our box office speculation is already out of date), Hulu's newly-announced Hellstrom and Ghost Rider shows, and the latest The Suicide Squad casting. Plus, there's an impassioned min-review-cum-exhortation-to-watch by Seb of season two of The Tick. WATCH SEASON TWO OF THE TICK.00:00 Intro / Explain Something04:51 News33:25 The Tick Season 2 Mini-Review48:51 Aquaman reviewCinematic Universe is supported by the generosity of our backers on Patreon, who also get to hear episodes ad-free along with occasional bonus content! Check out our page and consider subscribing at patreon.com/cinematicuniverse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been a long, long time. But the Endgame is finally here.Just like the last go around, be warned that this is ABSOLUTELY SPOILER FILLED almost from the word go. We're skipping news, we're even skipping spoiler-free, because what's the point in having spoiler-free thoughts on this? And yes, we really have done an episode that's even longer than the film. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've got a few news bits to get out of the way in this busy month for new films, so here's a slightly longer than usual mini catching up on a bunch of matters including Black Widow and Eternals casting, Hawkeye's Disney+ series, who Idris Elba might be playing in The Suicide Squad, Iain Glen being the new Bruce Wayne, and finally a belated catchup on the Joker trailer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It still absolutely boggles our minds that movies about both versions of Captain Marvel have come out within a month of each other, so here we are talking about DC's Actually He's Called Shazam! Now. Is it the first truly great DCEU film? What kind of a future for the series can we see spinning out of it? And isn't it good to finally be able to talk about all of the spoilery stuff that it's kept hidden from the publicity? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a slower-than-expected March, we're kicking off a busy April with Joe and Seb on a news roundup that covers those Batman comments, the completion of the Disney/Fox deal, James Gunn's return to the MCU, Angelina Jolie's arrival in the MCU, the imminent new season of The Tick, some general TV stuff, yet more Endgame discussion, Morbius filming outside Seb's office, and yes - but we did put a strict time limit on it - that first Stargirl photo. We haven't got the Joker trailer because this was recorded at the weekend, but we will certainly get to it! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yes. We know. Sorry. We've had all manner of catastrophes befall this episode, leading ultimately to our having to completely re-record it having already done it once. But we got there in the end, and hey, we got there before the end of the month of the film's release! So we're sure you've all already seen Captain Marvel and formed your own opinions on it by now, but join us as we give you our thoughts, as well as closing off the episode with some discussion of that latest Avengers: Endgame trailer. Oh, and hey, by the way, this is our 200th (including minisodes and bonus eps) edition overall! Yay us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yes, we know - we haven't got the Captain Marvel episode out yet. It is on the way, we promise, but in the meantime (and after a bit of explanation at the start about those recent scheduling problems) here's a recently-recorded minisode to fill the gap, in which Joe and guest Rhys Williamson rattle through a bunch of recent news - including latest trailers for Hellboy, Dark Phoenix and Shazam, the Suicide Squad recasting, Morbius, the Netflix cancellations, and more (but not the Endgame trailer or James Gunn news, they'll be covered at a later point!) Apologies again for all of the delays recently, but we are working to get back on schedule and ready for a big month in April! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're joined by Al Kennedy of the outstanding and venerable House to Astonish comics podcast to talk about a movie that never really found its audience back in 1999, but would its satirical superheroics have landed better in the here and now? We talk one-time-only directors, corporate-sponsored superheroes, Eddie Izzard's accent... and yes, of course, that Smash Mouth song. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was Superbowl Sunday this week, which traditionally means an influx of absolutely massive movie trailer news. Or, at least it does in theory - in reality, it can end up being a bit like the movie equivalent of Transfer Deadline Day. Either way, and because we needed to catch up with some outstanding news matters anyway, Seb and James have roped in Den of Geek news editor Kirsten Howard to run through the latest Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel spots, that Birds of Prey teaser, an old Keanu Reeves story getting reported as new, Y: The Last Man going to series, James Gunn moving away from Superman and towards The Suicide Squad, and plenty more besides. Well, some more besides, anyway. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's our first news roundup of 2019, so of course it's come out nearly a week late after we spent several days unable between us to edit it. But listen on for our takes on Black Panther's Oscars nomination, Katherine Langford's new hairdo, the possible presence of Genis-Vell in Captain Marvel, the latest Morbius developments, James Wan lining up Aquaman 2 and various other bits of DC future, the Flarrowverse doing Crisis, and trailers for The Boys and The Umbrella Academy. And! We'll actually be back before our next main episode with another news special, rounding up last week's developments as well as anything that might get shown during the Superbowl tomorrow... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're kicking off our fifth year with a jam-packed episode, and the film that might just have marked the creation of the first ever cinematic universe: Jeanott Szwarc's 1984 version of Supergirl! Plus, we catch up on some of the latest news, including a dive into the Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer, and Seb getting to have a big old rant about Stargirl's choice of Starman. All of this, and you get to learn the fate of the Pitch segment! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sure, we're a week into 2019, but there's still time to keep looking back at 2018, right? Well, there'd better be, as here we are one week later with PART TWO of our epic end-of-year awards special. So listen on to find out our all-important remaining picks, including Best Film, new Hall of Fame entrants, AND news on how you, yes YOU, can have your say on one of the major awards! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been a heck of a year for great new comic book movies, which might explain why we balanced it out by covering so many old bad ones, too. Join us for our annual awards bash as we hand out gongs for our favourites (and less-than-favourites) of everything we've covered in the last year. And don't forget, this is only part one - we'll be along with the second half to round everything else up in a few days' time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In all the plot twists of 2018, an animated Miles Morales movie sneaking in at the death to arguably be not only the superhero film of the year, but also possibly the best Spider-Man film ever, is something to behold. But even bigger than that is that James liked it. Join us as we take a deep dive into this immensely enjoyable insta-masterpiece - with a spoiler-free section at the beginning for those of you who somehow haven't seen it yet (but seriously... see it). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So yeah, the Avengers trailer (and title) dropped, and naturally we were able to spend a good half an hour talking about it. But, we had already just before that recorded our long-awaited catchup on all the news that's happened over the last couple of weeks before that - and because we're mean, we're making you sit through that before we get on to all the Endgame talk. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's another one of those "comic book movies that most people didn't know were comic book movies" that the 1990s were so fond of! But how does The Rocketeer hold up nowadays when both the film itself and its source material were already so deliberately throwback? Does it contain the seeds of greatness that would lead to Captain America: The First Avenger? Joe and Seb are joined by a man who has had the film's poster as his Twitter avatar for years and years, so Matthew Turner definitely won't be biased at all... right? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So yeah, sorry about this: we managed to drop the ball on editing and releasing this episode through a combination of bad scheduling, work pressures, illness, and fitting in an additional Stan Lee tribute episode. But having recorded it a couple of weeks ago we did still want to make sure you actually got to hear our takes on some of these outstanding news items. Truth be told, we can't actually remember what most of them were, so we might have to listen along with you to find out! Normal service will, thankfully, resume very shortly... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joe, Seb and James gather to discuss the passing of Stan Lee, and his impact and legacy on Marvel's comics, movies and the superhero genre in general. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's hard to imagine, but when we launched Cinematic Universe, this film was less than a year old. We've talked about it an awful lot since, but thanks to our slavish devotion to doing each film series in their correct sequence, we're only now getting to actually covering it in its own right. Is it the greatest modern superhero movie? Bucky superfan Limara Salt joins Joe and Seb to delve into that question and an awful lot more besides. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's been an awful lot of news since the last time we had a chance to talk about anyway, and we've been a bit slack in keeping up with it. So here's the first part of our attempt to catch up: a minisode in which Joe and James talk about some of the outstanding news items, before Joe and Seb talk about a bunch more of it on our next main episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joe and James are joined by special guest Amon Warmann to discuss the Sony Spider-Man symbiote spinoff that someone, somewhere, seemingly solicited:: Venom! Does it manage to be a worthy addition to the Spidey canon (not to mention the Tom Hardy canon), or does it live up to its own tagline of "The World Has Enough Super-Heroes"? Find out!As per usual for a new release episode, there's no news section beforehand - just some non-spoilery opinions followed by a launch straight into the spoiler section. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a truly fantastic piece of timing, we recorded this episode before the Dark Phoenix trailer landed. But then it's taken us so long to release it that we've actually had time to record an extra insert discussing it - which means that for the first time ever, the news section and the main section are basically about the same film. That, along with our surprising reaction to those Joker images, would explain why the news section is nearly an hour long, before we finally get onto X-Men: The Last Stand, the film that killed the X-franchise the first time, before it rose like a certain nameless character, only to... well, let's face it, to probably be killed again whenever (if?) Dark Phoenix finally comes out. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Well, there's been quite a lot to talk about lately, hasn't there? So much so that in the weeks between our V For Vendetta and X-Men: The Last Stand episodes, we've ended up gathering to record not one, but TWO minisodes. And our schedules being what they are, we didn't actually manage to edit and release the first one before that Captain Marvel trailer came out and we had to record the second. So welcome back the trusty old "Megasode" format, as first Joe and Seb get together to talk about all that Henry Cavill speculation, Supergirl and Sabrina, before James then gets in on the act to talk all things Captain Marvel and the new MCU telly slate. Plus! We catch up on not one, but TWO weeks worth of pitches that James definitely spent time preparing for. All of this, and we haven't even got on to Joker yet... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've teased it for years, and it's finally here. We're finally talking about V For Vendetta - the Alan Moore adaptation that Seb viscerally hates and James inexplicably doesn't. At least... that's what they thought back in 2005, when its vision of a fascist-ruled dystopian future was just a wild pipe dream. How does it look in the altogether cheerier 2018? Are they going to disappoint everyone who's been waiting for this episode by being more moderate, or have they become only more fanatical in their views? And which way will Joe land? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's safe to say that even by the low standards of "comic book movies from 1997", Spawn is not a particularly well-regarded film. But you know us, we always like to look for the good in things, from Howard the Duck to The Punisher. Were we able to similarly find something to enjoy about the adaptation of Todd McFarlane's early-90s-defining Image series? The answer... won't shock you, actually, because seriously, this is just a terrible, terrible movie. But hopefully you'll enjoy hearing us talk about it anyway, because we had plenty to unpick. Meanwhile, in the absence of much news (and hey, Alec Baldwin managed to become Thomas Wayne and then not be Thomas Wayne any more during the time between recording this and releasing it) Seb and James take a trip into Comics Corner to fill Joe in on what's been going on in the funny pages since the last time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the three or four of you who are actually big fans of the Pitch segment, we've finally managed to get around to catching up on all the business that's been left outstanding over the past couple of months. So listen on to hear Seb and James' responses to the various challenges laid down in our Incredibles 2, Spider-Man 3 and Ant-Man and the Wasp episodes. And, although we didn't have a huge amount of news left to cover, we've pitchified those little tidbits we have decided to look at as well. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It came out so long ago in the US - and, come to that, in the UK - that we almost can't even really call this a "new release" pod. But! Nevertheless, we have all now finally seen Ant-Man and the Wasp, and what's more... there's some pretty strong disagreement over its merits. So tune in for an almighty ding-dong, as well as a catchup on some of the latest comic book movie news, including James and Seb laughing heartily at Sony's latest piece of barrel scraping. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Well, here it is: the last time we'll cover a Spider-Man movie that already existed before we did the podcast, and our fond farewell to Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, JK Simmons, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco and, uh, John Paxton. Largely derided on its release for being the (then) duffest Spidey film by some way, has time (and Marc Webb) proven kinder to its reputation? Meanwhile, since there's thankfully not been much news since our big SDCC blowout, we mostly spend the news section indulging in some probably-already-out-of-date speculation about the latest developments in the Disney/Fox deal. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the most! Wonderful time! Of the yeeeeear! Yes, as you surely can't be unaware, it was the San Diego Comic-Con last weekend, which has meant the usual NEWSPLOSION of stuff for us to cover in our annual bonus roundup episode. It's not a short one, unsurprisingly, but we cover the trailers for Shazam!, Aquaman, Titans and Glass among a bunch of other chatter - and yes, we do address the James Gunn shaped elephant that barged its way into the room just as the convention was getting underway. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While we're still not at all bitter about it coming out in the UK so much after the US had already memed the heck out of Violet blowing water out of her nose, we've finally got Incredibles 2, so we can finally cover it. Joe and Seb are joined by writer Gary Bainbridge to discuss the film, because James is a robot who doesn't like fun. Can Brad Bird and Pixar's belated sequel possibly live up to the legacy of its near-peerless original? Well... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With James sidelined due to unexpected dental trauma, Joe and Seb are again joined by our supersub Rhys Williamson to take a run at not-all-that-much movie and TV news, a bit of analysis of our expectations of the DC Universe service, and then a discussion around the recent Batman #50. And although football may or may not be coming home, yes, we're still annoyed about America getting Ant-Man and the Wasp so far ahead of us. You'd better not spoiler it, you lot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the wake of our Men In Black podcast, there were literally some listeners who got in touch and said they'd like to hear Joe and Caroline talk about the other major Will Smith blockbuster of the era in a bit more detail. So, that's exactly what they've done! No, it's not a comic book movie (although there was a Marvel comic of it!) and no, it's not on our regular schedule (but how could we not release it on 4th July itself?) but hopefully you'll enjoy this bonus natter anyway! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joe and Seb are joined by special guest and renowned Tweetnoter Andrew Ellard to look back at a movie that plenty of people loved at the time, but which maybe hasn't dated all that well. Or has it? We also chat about Sony's double-whammy of a Jared Leto Morbius movie and a "Could It Actually Be Quite Good?" Silk movie; and what we think about Doctor Strange 2 now that that's been confirmed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Special guest David Hartrick returns to talk about another 1990s DC classic arc - this time, it's the Batman saga Knightfall (also incorporating Knightquest and Knightsend)! Bane, Azbats, Zsasz, controversial opinions about the merits of Jim Aparo - it's all here. This episode was originally published on our Patreon Exclusive/Early Access feed back in October 2017. We're making it available on the public feed now due to a gap in our production schedule! If you'd like to hear more episodes like this - both as early access and also as permanent backer exclusives - then head on over to patreon.com/cinematicuniverse and back us at the $2 level or above! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.