Superhero Cinephiles

Finally, Perry's master plan has come to fruition. The reason why he started this podcast was to someday trick Derrick into watching the director's cut of the 2003 Daredevil, and now the day has come! So how does Derrick react to a movie he's resisted watching for almost twenty years? Will he rage against the film or will he find some stuff he liked? You've gotta listen to find out...

The best Suicide Squad movie isn't the live-action one, but this animated feature from a few years ago. We talk up Christian Slater's take on Deadshot, debate which version of Harley Quinn we like better, and explain why DC's second-string villains are better than Marvel's.

Seems almost everybody hated Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance when it came out. But we watched it anyway and even though it’s definitely not a good movie, it’s also not really a bad one either. We talk about some of the craziness that works, the awesome visuals, and how this movie was surprisingly ahead of its time in some ways.

For our first animated movie, we’ve decided to look at the long lost and mostly forgotten Hulk Vs! Consisting of two short movies—Hulk vs Thor and Hulk vs Wolverine—we talk about how actors have colored our perceptions of certain characters, Marvel vs DC, Ang Lee’s Hulk, and…oh yeah, somewhere in there we also mention the film we’re supposed to be talking about at least once.

It’s pizza time as Perry and Derrick watch the classic 1990 live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Perry got introduced to the franchise as an impressible youth while Derrick was already a jaded adult, and yet there’s a lot of common ground. Find out why this film holds up so well and how it succeeds where Michael Bay’s reboot failed.

Yes, Aquaman is a badass and this movie proved it. We praise James Wan's confident direction, Jason Momoa's surfer bro take on the King of the Seas, and just overall geek out on the closest DC has ever come to making an MCU film.

We go with a more recent pick this week as we watch Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn. Despite the title, don't expect a whole lot of Birds of Prey as this is pretty much the Harley show. But that's okay, because Margot Robbie steals the show. Get ready to crave an egg sandwich!

Watchmen comes to an explosive end! We discuss episodes 7-9 of the groundbreaking HBO miniseries, give a summation of some of our thoughts on the show and what it means, and speculate as to why Dr. Manhattan is so horny all the time.

Our spotlight on HBO’s Watchmen limited series continues, and this time we focus on episodes 4-6. The story moves forward in exciting directions as we meet the mysterious Lady Trieu, learn more about Looking Glass, and—in one of the best hours of television ever—dive into the memories of Will “Hooded Justice” Reeves!

In the first part of this three-part series, we cover episodes 1-3 of HBO’s Watchmen. We discuss how Damon Lindelof has done the impossible, praise the talents of Regina King and Jean Smart, and barely scratch the surface of everything that’s packed into the beginning of this excellent TV series.

We round out this spotlight on black superhero movies by discussing the very first black superhero movie—the low-budget Abar, The First Black Superman. If you’ve never seen this movie, it will both be disappointing based on the poster and also surprising based on how intelligent it is in parts.

We continue our spotlight on black superheroes with a movie that looked at expectations for black superhero movies and just blew them right out. And that is what both Perry and Derrick agree is one of the greatest superhero films ever—2018’s Black Panther! Listen as we go in-depth with some of the deep themes of this movie and go nuts over the cast.

In celebration of Black History Month, Perry and Derrick discuss The Meteor Man, the first mainstream black superhero movie! Writer/director/actor Robert Townsend’s 1993 superhero kids comedy has kind of faded from memory, but there’s a lot of good in it that deserves a fresh look.

It’s Crisis time! We talk about the similarities between Crisis and Avengers: Endgame, how incredible it is that The CW pulled this off, all the cameos, and of course, we’ve got plenty to say about Brandon Routh’s second go as Superman!

To ring in the New Year with a bit of optimism, Perry and Derrick discuss Captain America: The First Avenger! Listen to why they both believe Chris Evans is THE definitive Steve Rogers, how the Cap movies gave a first in superhero cinema, and why people who dismiss characters like Cap and Superman are wrong.

It's the holiday season, so we decided to spotlight the other guy in the red suit—2016's Deadpool! Get two very different perspectives, one from a fan of the character, and one from someone who never understood the appeal. Also a little rundown on some of Perry and Derrick's thoughts on the most important superhero films of the past year.

Between digressions about politics in comics, the Watchmen TV series, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and a whole bunch of other tangents, we do kind of talk about our main movie. And that is the 1998 Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD telefilm starring The Hoff himself in the role Samuel L. Jackson made famous. And spoiler alert: it’s not as bad as you may have been told.

Zack Snyder's Watchmen is one of the most controversial superhero films ever made, and in light of how much we're enjoying Daimon Lindelof's Watchmen TV series on HBO, this episode we decided to look back at Snyder's adaptation. Perry goes in-depth into the ways Snyder misunderstood Moore and Gibbons' classic, while Derrick offers a more sympathetic view of the film. Where do y...

In this episode, we unearth the largely unknown made-for-TV Dr. Strange movie from 1978. Though the effects are poor and the music laughable, overall we found it’s actually a pretty serious effort! We also address the recent superhero-bashing from Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.

It’s a giant-sized episode as Perry and Derrick talk about 2000’s X-Men, the movie that launched the superhero revolution! We both defend and deconstruct different parts of this film. Plus: Derrick talks about his problems with the civil rights metaphor for mutants and Perry gives some ideas about how mutants could be introduced into the MCU.

Did you know Wes Craven directed a superhero movie? Or that Swamp Thing has Batman/Superman levels of exposure in other media? Join us as we talk about these issues and more as we watch 1982’s Swamp Thing!

Perry and Derrick sit down and talk about the 1994 cult favorite, The Crow. The guys discuss how the film has withstood the test of time, the brilliant way it tells a very concise story, and of course, they touch on the film’s legacy and the tragic on-set death of its star, Brandon Lee.

Happy Batman Day! Go back to 1989 as Perry and Derrick talk about Tim Burton’s Batman, which changed the way many looked at the Dark Knight. Listen to Derrick’s retelling of what it was like in the summer of ’89 when Batmania gripped the nation and what the movie got right and what it got wrong.

In the first episode, Perry and Derrick discuss the grandfather of superhero movies, 1978’s Superman directed by Richard Donner. Join in as they discuss just how influential this movie has been on superhero movies since and whether or not it still holds up today.