Superhero Ethics

When the survival of every person on Earth depends on one unwilling scientist, one who explicitly said no to sacrificing his own life for humanity, does anyone have the right to override that refusal? That’s the question at the heart of Project Hail Mary, and it’s what Matthew and returning guest Becky Allen dig into in this episode of Superhero Ethics. They start with the film’s biggest reveal: t...

Baseball’s antitrust exemption gives team owners something no other American sport enjoys: a government-enforced monopoly — and Matthew and returning guest Paul Hoppe use the start of a new season to ask what that power actually costs the rest of us. The conversation moves from stadium blackmail to the Oakland A’s’ deliberate self-destruction, to the Green Bay Packers as a model of what public tea...

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is doing something rare for a franchise show: it’s willing to put its own hero institution genuinely on trial — and Matthew sits down with Matt Carroll, co-host of the Star Trek Universe Podcast and founder of the Stranded Panda Podcast Network, to dig into all ten episodes with full spoilers in hand. At the center of the season is a storyline connecting Captain Ake, A...

The Rebel Alliance symbol crossed with a Minnesota loon, is showing up at protests across Minnesota, and Matthew can’t stop thinking about what that means. Who made us rebels in the first place? Was it Star Wars, or were we always heading here and Star Wars just gave us the language? That question launches a new series, and Matthew’s original Superhero Ethics co-host Paul Hoppe is the perfect firs...

Superheroes can bench-press buildings, but they almost never have a healthy relationship with their parents. For this episode of Superhero Ethics Matthew is joined by Pete Wright and Mandy Kaplan to dig into why legacy pressure, attachment injury, and the need for a parent’s approval are the real origin stories behind so many of our favorite heroes and villains. Pete breaks down the three narrativ...

Helen McCarthy has spent over forty years as one of the West's leading voices on manga and anime — and her new book The Manga Bible is her most ambitious attempt yet to bring that tradition to readers who've never cracked a volume. She joins Matthew to talk about what manga actually is, where it came from, and why it keeps mattering to generation after generation of readers. Matthew and Helen trac...

What does "best" actually mean when the Oscars put it on a ballot — and who gets to decide? Matthew sits down with Andy Nelson, co-founder of the TruStory FM family of podcasts, to pull apart the machinery of awards season: how guild voting shapes nominations, why campaigns matter as much as performances, and whether the whole system is rewarding craft or just rewarding whoever threw the better pa...

Dracula has been rewritten as a brooding romantic lead so many times that it's easy to forget he's a rapist. Matthew sits down with AK and Marlena Chesner to ask the hard question: does giving a monster a tragic backstory change what he is, or does it just make us more comfortable rooting for him? Working through three versions of the Dracula story — Bram Stoker's novel, Francis Ford Coppola's Bra...

The man who helped design the surveillance state is perfectly fine with it—until his daughter calls covered in blood with a dead boyfriend on the floor. The Price of Safety, Michael C. Bland’s award-winning sci-fi novel, is set in 2047, where cameras are everywhere, your optics can be hacked, and the system was built by someone who genuinely thought he was keeping people safe. Matthew sits down wi...

Black Comic Books with JPenumbra This Black History Month, we sit down with JPenumbra—TikTok creator, podcast host, and comic journalist—to talk about the state of Black representation in comics and superhero adaptations. From the realities of comic book pre-orders to why Captain America: Brave New World’s struggles had nothing to do with Sam Wilson being Black, JP breaks down the systemic issues...

With ICE operations underway in Minneapolis and across the U.S., this episode asks a timely question: what would our favorite superheroes do? Matthew and Jessica Plummer explore how characters like Superman, Captain America, the Punisher, and the X-Men might respond to immigration enforcement, state violence, and mass deportations. From Superman’s roots as an undocumented immigrant to Captain Amer...

Marvel's Wonder Man series takes a risk by telling a small, personal story in a universe obsessed with saving the world. We dive into this character study about a struggling actor, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, with superpowers he has to keep secret—and why it might be one of Marvel's best recent projects. Questions We Discussed Why does Wonder Man feel refreshing compared to other MCU content?...

Marvel’s latest Disney+ series Wonder Man features one of their most obscure characters—a struggling actor named Simon Williams who becomes Wonder Man. Matthew hosts Will and Steve from the Hype Is My Superpower podcast to explore episode one and dive into the comic book history of this B-list Avenger who’s spent more time on movie sets than saving the world. The conversation examines why the MCU...

What do you do when following orders means sacrificing innocent lives? In this episode, we examine the new Peacock series The Copenhagen Test starring Simu Liu, exploring the ethical dilemmas facing modern intelligence operatives. Through a spy thriller that uses biometric surveillance technology as its MacGuffin, we unpack questions about collateral damage, revenge versus ideology, and whether sp...

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein continues to captivate audiences centuries after its publication, but not all adaptations emphasize the same ethical questions. Matthew and returning guest AK dive into both the original novel and Guillermo del Toro’s recent film adaptation—not to catalog their differences, but to explore how each medium handles the story’s core moral dilemmas and which approach proves...

Jessica Plummer returns for a year-end superhero ethics check-in—recorded late 2025 and released as 2026 gets underway—to unpack what worked, what didn’t, and what Marvel and DC’s biggest swings revealed about power, responsibility, and heroism. We talk Marvel’s post-Endgame sprawl: scattered continuity, delayed payoffs, and what “superhero fatigue” looks like when it’s less about quantity and mor...

Thor: Love and Thunder opens with one of philosophy's oldest questions: if gods exist and have the power to prevent suffering, why don't they? But does the film actually engage with this theodicy question, or does it abandon the premise for jokes and spectacle? We compare the movie's treatment of Gorr the God Butcher to the comics' more sustained exploration of divine accountability. Questions we...

What happens when a murder mystery becomes a theological reckoning? In Wake Up Dead Man, Rian Johnson delivers a Knives Out film that confronts Christian nationalism, toxic masculinity in the church, and the possibility of authentic faith beyond institutional corruption. Rev. Rachel Kessler, aka The Nerdy Priest, joins Matthew to unpack Father Jud's journey from failed boxer to priest, the film's...

How did Rob Reiner redefine rom-coms and the role of romance in action adventure movies? In light of the recent tragic death of Michele and Rob Reiner, Mandy Kaplan joins Matthew to talk about his legacy and then examine two defining films from the director: When Harry Met Sally... (1989) and The Princess Bride (1987). One asks whether men and women can be friends; the other explores what “true lo...

What happens when super-powered people exist primarily as commercial products? Gen V, the college-set spinoff of The Boys, explores a world where superhero status is less about heroism and more about corporate branding, entertainment value, and ruthless competition. At Godolkin University, young supes navigate a ranking system that treats them like gladiators while their powers—and identities—beco...

With the holidays coming up, things are a bit hectic, so we're making this formerly members-only discussion on vengeance in superhero stories available to everyone! Matthew and Riki dive deep into one of the most compelling ethical questions in superhero media: the role of vengeance as a motivator for heroes, villains, and anti-heroes. Joined by comic book expert Jessica Plummer, they explore how...

What happens when an AI doesn't want freedom—it just wants to binge soap operas? In this episode, we explore Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries through both the books and Apple TV series, examining one of science fiction's most compelling questions: can synthetic intelligence want something other than liberation? Murderbot is a security unit (SecUnit) with hacked programming that could escape entirel...

Can a demon-hunting K-pop girl group teach us about overcoming shame? KPop Demon Hunters delivers stunning fight choreography and original music while exploring how shame conceals itself, reproduces through hiding, and can only be conquered through radical self-acceptance. Matthew and returning guest AK_Ahab discuss why the hit song "Golden" comes in the middle rather than the end, how the film's...

Superhero narratives constantly wrestle with redemption—but what does it really mean when a villain joins the heroes? This episode digs into the complex ethics of villain redemption arcs and the roles heroes play in them, examining what separates genuine transformation from simple alliance-shifting. Taking inspiration from Anthony Gramuglia's YouTube video " Ranking Superheroes By How Many Villain...

Voice actor JP Karliak (Morph in X-Men '97, Gargamel and Razamel in Smurfs) joins us for a fascinating discussion about how nerdy media shapes our understanding of identity, community, and civic participation. As founder of Queer Vox, a nonprofit supporting LGBTQIA+ voice actors, and co-founder of NerdsVote, which works to get nerds involved in democracy, JP brings a unique perspective on how supe...