Batch steals two of the Aftertaste crew for this edition of Small Screen Heroes, as Mr. 4 outta 10 and Deep Voice Guy join the discussion of the CW’s crossover event, Crisis on Infinite Earths. Batch gives some comic-book history on one of the biggest DC’s stories, and the three geek out over cameos and all the threads of the show. Fucking nerds.
Batch and Logan send out the Spidey signal to recruit some Binge-vengers (Bengers? Bin…gers?) known as Marc Chevalier and Art from Cali to pay tribute to comic book legend and pop culture icon Stan “The Man” Lee, as he recently departed this world to go to the Avengers tower in the sky. The geeky fantastic four talk about their favorite superheroes, stories, and sagas created by Stan for a good chunk of the podcast. After they close out paying their respects, Batch and Art discuss Titans, then everyone discusses the Disney Streaming Service. Batch and Logan find a way to insult Superman while Art is actually there, before Art gets really aroused getting to talk about Cyclops. Great show content right here, true believers!
Rest in Peace, Stan Lee. You will be missed. Excelsior!!!
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On this episode of Small Screen Heroes, Batch and Logan are joined by the amazing Nate Peterson. The three discuss the recently released Captain Marvel trailer, then discuss how the DCEU is just sucking due to Henry Cavill’s departure from the Superman role. Allegedly.
Batch and Logan bring us up to speed on Amazing Spider-Man, then Logan talks about his time at Philly’s Keystone Comic-Con and how he finally got to meet Tom Velez. Lucky fuck. Then the meat of the show begins as all three dissect the extremely popular Spider-Man game on the PS4. Since Logan is a cocksucker and didn’t finish the game (so much for being a Spidey fife), he hops off while Nate and Batch press forward to discuss the game’s third act. Spoilers, of course. Thwipp thwipp.
On this giant-sized episode, Batch and Logan recap all the comic based tv renewals (spoiler: they all got renewed but 1). The 2nd season of the Netflix show The Toys That Made Us and talk about their Lego collections (NERDS!). They also try to explain just what makes those inarticulate pieces of plastic with beady eyes so great as they review the new documentary on Netflix called Making Fun: The Story of Funko.
Logan reviews Deadpool 2, Batch hasn’t seen it but he reviews it anyway. Logan updates us on where he’s at in Invincible, plus reviews of the comic series Nailbiter, Batman White Night, Spiderman Deadpool, and much more.
Chad C gets all super hero-y again for JUSTICE LEAGUE and considers crying by himself in a theater for WONDER. Which is better? What should you see? How many nude scenes in each? All (none) of these questions are answered inside your computer right now. Or your phone. Or whatever. Shut up.
Another Summer box office weekend, another “record-shattering” movie release. This past weekend, Suicide Squad came along to set the movie world on fire, immediately dividing the masses into two main camps. You either like the movie or you hate it. Well, that is, unless you’re trying to protest against Rotten Tomatoes, take down critics for disliking the film and picketing against Marvel. In the age of Social Justice Warriors, entitlement and parity for all, the movie-going world is changing for the worse. Marvel, for all the good they have done since 2008, clearly have had a negative effect on the studios around them. This is no more evident than their main comic book rival DC and their handling of the creation of an inter-connected movie universe of their own.
Man of Steel was supposed to kick these films off, a film which included a Superman that doesn’t smile. That was followed up with Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, a patently idiotic attempt at launching a wave of DC cinematic goodness that fell flat for being poorly written and horribly conceived. Now, Suicide Squad, a film whose trailers looked genuinely interesting, featuring a new take on arguably DC’s greatest villain ever, was a disjoined, badly made and stupid movie. There is an argument to be made that all comic book movies are kinda stupid, and I get that, but Suicide Squad is the kind of movie that forgets about its own logic halfway through the film. DC is going south quickly, and despite the amount of money they earn on opening weekend they are failing many of their fans, myself included, consistently.
I know this seems like a simple thing to say but there is a simple way to combat the slew of shitty films that get thrown out way. Simply put, do not go and see these films. We are at a point where audiences are more interested in seeing a certain character on screen than caring about the actual story in the film, and that is a shame. Suicide Squad, for all its faults, does have an interesting story to be told…it’s just 100% different than what they went with. But studios aren’t going to stop shoveling this shit in our faces until we decide to do something about it.
This past year we had a Snow White sequel, a Tarzan reboot, more young adult novel adaptations like Allegiant and a few other genuine pieces of trash. While those were properly ignored by the masses movies like BvS and SS are manipulative in the way they are made. SS featured Batman in the trailer, and of course anyone would want to see him in the film. His screen time amounts to 2 minutes that mean nothing to the story, but at the point most people understood this the ticket was already sold. Take, in comparison, Marvel’s Civil War, featuring the first appearance of ***SPOILER ALERT*** Giant Man on screen. They didn’t play this up in the trailers, they didn’t advertise it elsewhere. Marvel knew the strength of its story was enough to intrigue people and didn’t resort to masking a shitty movie with a lot of pomp and circumstance.
It is tough to know what will be a good film and what will be a bad one these days. Trailers are made to sell you on a film, and oftentimes those are better than the finished film. I think we need to be more conscious of movies and pay attention to the ones that deserve more exposure. Sing Street, The Nice Guys and Hail Caesar are the types of films I want to see more of in theaters. Movies that are well made, sure to entertain and are different than a bunch of people in costumes punching each other with their laser-penises. Let’s try to be better fans and give love to the stuff that needs it or else it may not be around much longer.
This will likely have spoilers, so Binge reader be warned. To preface all of this, I was hardly excited for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. I just wasn’t into it. I love Batman. I honestly hate Superman. Anyone else that was going to be in that movie was only going to be a stepping stone to where we all want it to go. The trailers didn’t make me giddy. The TV spots didn’t have me counting how many weeks until the movie came out. I simply was uninterested in anything this movie had to offer. I wasn’t hateful towards it. I didn’t have any reason to be angry they made it. Zack Snyder was not a concern, though recently he hasn’t been at the strength I once recall. I didn’t think the story was going to be stupid, or that Jesse Eisenberg was going to be awful. I had absolutely zero commitment towards any stance on this movie. Now, I’ve seen it twice, once during each of the last two weekends. I came out of the movie the first time having enjoyed it, but not enough to rave about it. Then I saw it again this past weekend, and I’m completely at a loss to where the hatred for this movie comes from. The following is what I truly believe to be the problem with Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Upon a second viewing, I saw this movie as I feel any fan of anything in this movie should, with joy. There was something mysteriously present in Batman V Superman that I didn’t notice the first time. It is the dream of so many people to see these two on screen together, and its finally happened. This equates to expectations of the highest level, which is where this movie first begins to fail its viewers. This goes to show what the main issue with this movie is, and that is the viewer themselves. It’s hard not to enjoy this movie, simply for what it is. All plot points and weirdness aside, this movie was a good time at the theater on premiere weekend. I had a laundry list of issues including Batman’s sudden befriending of Superman, the Kryptonite spear dilemma, Superman in general, and Ben Affleck as Batman. There were so many things to complain about, yet somehow it couldn’t suck this movie to lifelessness as some suggest it is. Nothing about this movie changes the way critics react and what viewers will do or say following. People simply see movies in different lights and viewers will have their minds made up about this one. Nothing is going to change that, and I’m not here to try.
What Batman V Superman has though is tons of awesome. Wonder Woman couldn’t have been any more excellent, as she was totally captivating on screen. I don’t know who Gal Gadot is, but she was cool as all hell in that role and she fit it for me. I’ve never been a particularly die-hard Wonder Woman fan. I like when she shows up in comics and uses her tools to take down villains that the others can’t. She has a pretty decent running title right now and has been exploring some darker characters. After this movie, I want everything Wonder Woman and especially Gal Gadot’s. I’m obsessed with this character, and I am so insanely excited for the solo movie now, which I didn’t even know existed. The fact that she got to show up and kick Doomsday’s ass for the most part, and use her lasso on him was epic. She was done so damn well in this movie, I almost didn’t care about all of its faults. The second time she was no less entertaining, and I found myself seeking out Wonder Woman merchandise. God, she was so great on both sides of the character. And this is where I really saw what about this movie had me in high spirits, and that was what it meant to me as a child at heart.
This movie makes me want to get out the old action figures and make Batman and Superman fight like they did here. Each character had some tremendous scenes in this movie. Batman took a stand against many of the largest foes we have seen him face on screen. Bruce Wayne was faced with age and loss like we’ve never seen before. Superman actually lost hope in himself and society as a whole. Clark Kent was enraged by the potential harm of his mother that was out of even his control. Batman and Superman bantering over mothers and female coworkers was nothing short of hysterical. Superman losing his shit on the rooftop with Lex Luthor was one of the most intense comic book scenes in the DCU. Even when Superman had to admit to himself that he was like anyone else and would have to give up his golden boy reputation, I was on the verge of losing control. Everyone was upset by Superman’s death, but seeing him truly struggle with society’s reactions towards him was outstanding. Seeing an infallible character suffer at the hand of life and deal with that emotionally was just unprecedented for me. It’s something many rarely are able to touch on with Superman to make him a great character to enjoy.
This brings to another thing I ended up loving about this movie, and that was Superman. I enjoyed Man of Steel much more than I thought I would as well. It has a much different take on the character, something that sort of resembled a Superman: Earth One comic or something. A darker approach, but a true cinematic experience was Man of Steel. Then this movie comes along and delivers on several great Superman scenes. The rooftop scene with Lex was the turning point of the film and served as the top of the hill in this roller coaster. The dream sequence showing Superman stalking into Batman was terrifying, knowing how powerful and unhinged a lost Superman can be from Injustice, which is what the Knightmare sequence reminded me of. Then lastly, that touching scene where Super Clark finds Lois and tells her that he has to change Batman’s mind. He acknowledges that he could truly have become corrupted, that even he and his golden heart were susceptible to disgraceful actions. For me to even like anything Superman astounds me, and I thought he far out-shined his counterpart here.
Batfleck was exactly what I thought he would be. A serviceable Bruce Wayne that is not the worst as some claim, nor is he the best, though it’s hard to argue with who is better. His Batman worked for me, and it was really cool to see an older Batman for once. We’ve seen him so many times, getting this fresh take on it and in a different time in his career was cool to see. Robin is dead, not just waiting to show up. Joker has come and gone to ruin the life of Bruce Wayne. Alfred is like a nagging old grandfather begging for a grandchild to replace the void of his loss in Robin as well. There was so much to like about this take on Batman, as I felt it was probably the closest any of them have come to being like an Animated Series style and tone character. This movie is the closest a DC movie has brought me to a childlike sense of wonderment. Star Wars recently did this for me, but nothing has ever quite touched this in the superhero genre like the original X-Men or Spider-Man. I’ve been amazed by Marvel for years now, through the good and bad, which is where the hatred for this flick starts. But for me, it serves as the launching point for DC’s care of their characters, like realized long ago. DC fan service has begun, and if Batman V Superman didn’t give you a Batarang-sized Binge brain boner then I don’t know what will. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was the best DC movie outside of Nolan’s trilogy and either movie based on the works of the legend Alan Moore. Just think about it when you go back to watch it again, because you know you will…
After almost a month of site build-up and a lifetime of anticipation, the time is finally here. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice has taken the country by storm, earning nearly $190 million in its opening weekend. But, after spending hours picking apart the two principle characters of this franchise in their respective individual appearances, will Luke, Jack, and even I be satisfied?
Will our most dire fears of Zack Snyder laying his hands on this fight be realized? Or will he surprise all of us with a masterpiece of superheroic proportions? Hit that download button to find out!
PS: An EXTRA special thanks to that Sneaky bastard Juan Carlos for not only his AMAZING Binge Fantasy League logos, but also each picture that has accompanied this retrospective. You sir, are the man!
WARNING: Unless you have seen the movie or don’t give a shit about ever seeing it, we appreciate your click, but DO NOT download this podcast until AFTER you do so. There are spoilers galore here.