The Project Infinite Podcast

154 - Superman: A History of Actors Who Wore the Cape

Court and Rob Episode 154

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With Superman's triumphant return to theaters just weeks away, we dive deep into the fascinating evolution of the Man of Steel throughout his live-action history. From Kirk Alyn's pioneering portrayal in 1948 theatrical serials to the upcoming David Corenswet interpretation, we explore how each actor has shaped our cultural understanding of hope, heroism, and humanity through this iconic character.

The journey reveals surprising patterns – early Superman actors like George Reeves struggled with typecasting and limited career opportunities after donning the cape, while Christopher Reeve forever transformed the role in 1978 with his revolutionary approach of "implied power" and genuine warmth. Television brought us Tom Welling's decade-long evolution in Smallville, fundamentally changing superhero storytelling for the small screen and paving the way for today's interconnected universes.

We examine the complicated tenure of Henry Cavill, whose darker, more conflicted Superman divided audiences while never receiving the solo spotlight his portrayal deserved. Meanwhile, Tyler Hoechlin's family-oriented interpretation on "Superman & Lois" demonstrated how the character could evolve while maintaining his essential optimism. As David Corenswet prepares to embody what James Gunn calls a "radical" portrayal focused on simple goodness, we reflect on what makes Superman endure across generations. 

The episode also covers breaking entertainment news, including Denis Villeneuve's surprising selection to direct the next James Bond film, the eyebrow-raising casting choices for the Street Fighter movie adaptation, and the exciting announcement that Jon Bernthal's Punisher will appear in Spider-Man 4.

Thank you to everyone who continues to support and don’t forget to subscribe to download new episodes as they become available and don’t be afraid to share a rating!

0:00 Intro
03:37 Denis Villeneuve Taking over Bond
13:17 What’s Going on with Street Fighter?
19:30 Jon Bernthal in Spider-Man 4 (Brand New Day)
27:39 Matt Reeves Finally Turned in His Homework!
35:59 The Final Fantastic 4 Trailer (Rise of the Silver SERVER)
44:40 Ryan Gosling’s Project Hail Mary First Trailer
47:38 Celebrating the Actors Who Portrayed Superman
01:33:17 Signing Off and Ironheart Thoughts!

Topic for Next Week: Superman Review! 

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Speaker 1:

It's the Infinite Podcast. Go tell your friends. It's the Infinite Podcast, my God, it never ends. It's the Infinite Podcast with Rob and Korka Q.

Speaker 2:

Hello everybody and welcome back to another episode of the Project Infinite Podcast, a podcast covering the infinite and ever-expanding multiverse of fandom, from movies, comics, tv shows, video games. We've got you covered. I'm Rob, I'm here with Court, court. We are on the precipice of Superman.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's such a full circle moment. I mean, you look back two years ago, two and a half years ago kind of, when it was announced, like it was out of the Schneider cut, kind of you know world, that we were living in um, 2022 rolled around, I think it was like 2022, 2023. And then you know it was announced that, you know, out of the success of the suicide squad, that James Gunn would be taking on the Superman movie. Um, I think at the time we didn't know if he was going to direct or not, but we knew that he was going to lead, lead the process and he was going to write it, which was so, which was, you know, very surreal at the moment. But then it kind of turned into this quickly, awesome feat, um.

Speaker 1:

And then, you know, the casting started rolling in. You know, obviously, all the rumors were rolling in, all the actors that could have played Superman, and David Coren sweat kind of came in. You know just kind of conquered this, this role, for all intents and purposes. So you know, I remember that first, you know what was the tagline Superman, what was the tagline? It was supposed to be Superman Legacy, yeah, superman Legacy. And then Justin Timberlake walked in from the set of the Social Network and he said drop the legacy, just do Superman. And we are here, you know 2025. We're two weeks away from you know 2025. We're two weeks away from you know we're gonna see this movie a little early. So we're literally about a little over two weeks away from seeing, you know, the new iteration of superman for the modern age yeah, yeah, I can't, can't wait.

Speaker 2:

Um, speaking of the social network, they're making a sequel to that. Um, yeah, yep, that's funnily enough, they are. Yeah, um see, we'll see how that goes, because I don't think Fincher's involved, I think it's just Sorkin is writing and directing Correct yep, which is interesting, and Sorkin's last movie he directed was the Whale, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, I think so, yeah. So that was kind of an aside.

Speaker 1:

No, the Whale was Aronofsky, my mistake.

Speaker 2:

We're going to talk about Superman in the spirit of kind of, with this new iteration of Superman, we're kind of just going to give a history and legacy. And you know, all the actors that have kind of, you know, paved the way for David Coren's wedding and have portrayed Superman on screen, because it's a quite eclectic, you know, actor group of actors and stories behind those actors. So, um, we just thought, with superman returning to the big screen, we would kind of just kind of go through the history and heritage of superman on screen and and see, you know how that, you know how we've gotten from the 40s to now, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

I mean a character, that's been 90 years in the making of this character and you know we're going to focus obviously on the actors and the you know, the different types of, you know media of which we've consumed Superman, but also the cultural impact of Superman, which I think is equally if not more important and I think that's James Gunn's whole point about this Superman is, you know, I'll talk about kind of the contrast between this and Fantastic Four, why both are equally as important but for different reasons. So really looking forward to that, but first we got some news.

Speaker 2:

We do have some news. First and foremost, at the front, Amazon has revealed who's going to take the helm of the next Bond movie, and it's going to be none other than Denis Villeneuve.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know what this feels like next Bond movie and it's going to be none other than Denis Villeneuve. Yeah, you know what this feels like. You remember when Pedro Pascal got cast as Mr Fantastic and you're like you can't certainly go with the best actor available, right? And then they were like you actually can. And you know, obviously, for me Denis is my probably top two favorite director, maybe ever. So for him to jump from Dune to Bond because I thought he was going to go right to rendezvous with Rama after Dune, I mean it's absolutely just breathtaking stroke of luck that Amazon was able to lock him down. I mean the details of the deal, I believe he doesn't have final say, which you know in of itself, kind of you know it sucks a little bit. You know you want him, you want the director to kind of have the final say, but hopefully I I believe they'll do that character justice.

Speaker 1:

Um, I mean, I'm just kind of thinking about the team he might build to go on to that bond film. I mean it's kind of, you know, it seems very evident that he's probably going to bring greg frazier with him to shoot this movie. That kind of is what my feel will be, because obviously greg frazier just came off of shooting. I think he just came off of shooting Project Hail Mary, which we're going to talk about. I think he's probably going to move into the Batman after that and then probably right into Bond right after the Batman. So, um, I was, you know, I was just looking at some frames from in some scenes from some Denisville new movies and you kind of look and you're like wow, you're about to get one of the most famous. He's the famous characters of all time.

Speaker 2:

That's just all types of awesome yeah, yeah, it's super cool for him. Um, obviously he's. He's obviously rising to prominence because of um dune, but obviously he's been making stellar movies for years now.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I always say he has one of the most insane film runs of all time. What is it? Incendies to Prisoners, to Sicario, to Arrival, to Blade Runner, to Dune 1 and 2, then on to Bond. That's absurd, the scale of Christopher Nolan. But he also has like the. He has like the reverence of like uh how do I put it? Of like uh, if you like, amalgamate like Fincher and Scorsese into one like he has like such this, like gruff and broad tone to himself as well too.

Speaker 1:

I love the way that he makes films. I love the way that he makes films. I love the, the grandiose nature in which he makes films. Um, and I love kind of they're, they're very tough's not the right word, because then you get films like arrival and specifically doing one. I love the ambience of doing one kind of how it breathes and it echoes. So for him to take a bond film, to take it, because this is the first time he's getting like a character like you know what I mean, like a character that he can kind of mold, I think, um, I don't think we've seen work like that from him since I think blade runner he did a good job, especially with agent k kind of doing that with ron gosling, but very excited um, which brings us on to the casting. Um, who would you like to see play the new james bond, now that we know it's denisville new?

Speaker 2:

yeah, um, it's a great question because I think they I think even Amazon said that they weren't going to cast until the script was done and I think the big thing is it's going to be a younger Bond.

Speaker 1:

That's like a known fact that this Bond will be younger.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean just coming off of we saw F1.

Speaker 1:

I mean Damien Anderson is right there. That's exactly what I was going to say, I feel like for the modern age. Obviously, you know he got his true fame from Snowfall. Obviously, f1 is printing money right now Like it is making a stupid amount. It made $144 in the opening weekend for a non-franchise movie. It's one of the biggest opening originals of the last few decades, which is awesome. He has it. He has that suave Bond nature, but he can also get a little rough, which I appreciate. I think he really embodies what Daniel Craig's Bond goes for as well too. I want to see him get his hands dirty, which that's what I think Daniel Craig's Bond did really well. But he has also that suave nature of the old Bonds as well too your Pierce Brosnannan's and so on and so forth. So I'm really looking forward to it.

Speaker 1:

Um, for me, uh, just because you said desmond idris, um, I did like because they because amazon, I guess said like we want like a harris, like it was jacob alorti, tom holland and um, harrison dickinson the harrison dickinson I think would be really good as james bond. Um, somebody made a really good point on a podcast. They said Will Poulter as Bond would be a fun choice, the funniest one I saw. And then I was like wait, in the weirdest of ways, this can actually work. Just bear with me, matthew Barry, as James Bond. Would that not be the funniest James Bond film you've ever seen? I'm going to give you an absolute outside of the box thinking one. You just have to bear with me for this one as the last. As no Time to Die has taught us, bond is or 007 is the moniker. It's not the person. For that sense, I'm going with Anya Taylor-Joy. Oh, to play Bond. That's interesting. It is interesting. I'm going to get a lot of hate for that.

Speaker 2:

No, I like that. I like that. She definitely has the you know, she has the feel of a spy Right Exactly.

Speaker 1:

That's why I said it, and obviously she's been working with Denis Villeneuve as well too. I'm not stupid, though. Denis Villeneuve and Christopher Nolan are good friends. Tom Holland is Villeneuve and Christopher Nolan are good friends. Tom Holland is about to star in Christopher Nolan's next movie. I do see a world where Tom Holland's next precipice as an actor is playing James Bond.

Speaker 2:

I mean. So here's the problem with Tom Holland. Oh no, careful. The problem with Tom Holland is he has not. I mean, hopefully the Odyssey will help with this, but I understand how old he is, but he, he doesn't look it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, sure.

Speaker 2:

Sure, which is not his fault at all, but, like I think back to like uncharted, where, like, he played Nathan Drake, but like he still felt like a kid. Yeah, and, like I said, maybe the odyssey will help with this, and it also has to do with the fact that he's still playing spider-man, right, he's still playing a young spider-man, right. So it's just, it'd be hard for me to look at him as like james bond, right, but I get, I get it and it's not his fault and he's a good actor, right, it's just, it's just the way he, unfortunately, is incredibly young um, I'm gonna switch my pick because I feel like this person is about to kind of go on like this heightened trajectory as an actor.

Speaker 1:

Um, I'm gonna go with aaron pierre to play james bond. Yeah, I think that he fits so many facets that you need to play j Bond. Like you know, you talk about that suave nature, cool under pressure nature. Aaron Pierre has that and I think for him it's his voice, truthfully will kind of carry him a little bit. He has the physical prowess as well too. I think I like the approach they took with Daniel Craig. Daniel Craig's a little bit smaller, like he's, not some like huge hulking human being, but I think this time you can go with that. Um, obviously, the acting chops are there. Um, if you saw rebel ridge, like you know that. The physicality he has it as well too. So I think, plausibly, my end all be all choice would be aaron. Aaron pierre. I think he has everything that you're looking for in james bond.

Speaker 2:

He encompasses yeah, I think. I think also too with denny directing. I think they're gonna scale, scale back the action a little bit from the Craig Bond, who is notoriously a maniac, and those are high budget action films pretty much.

Speaker 2:

I could see Denis going in a direction of we're going to go back to the spy, espionage kind of aspect of Bond, and I think that will lean into the charisma of the actor, whoever they end up choosing. So I think that's what we're kind of going to go for. I think they're going to scale back the action quite a bit and kind of return to kind of like the espionage, kind of like we were talking about Mission Impossible. If the Mission Impossible franchise were to continue without Tom Cruise, you'd have to naturally probably scale back the insanity of the action and kind of regress it back to kind of like the espionage, spy, networking type thing is what I think they're gonna end up doing no, I agree 100.

Speaker 1:

And you know it's funny how grand and I weird I was just talking about how grand denny operates in and I. But I think this approach kind of would get back to like his prisoners days, like I want kind of almost like a psychological thriller from a Bond film as well too. And, like you said, really play up the espionage, really play up you know these like super detailed action sequences, like the super tight hand to hand as well too. Somebody you add to the team, you know going down a list of personnel you would need, I mean in terms of a score. I feel like you know Ludwig Gorenson's right there as well too. I would love to see him take a crack at a Bond theme.

Speaker 1:

But Hans Zimmer, has he done a Bond theme yet? I'm not sure. I don't think Hans Zimmer has done Bond before. So, that being said, I don't I mean naturally, I think that would just be because before. So, that being said, I don't I mean naturally, I think that would just be cause, like I feel like Hans Zimmer does, like he'll do, like his F1 type of movies where, like he doesn't need to try overtly too insane it's, his talent is just so immense that he can step into a movie really quickly like that, and then he can do like Dune, where he takes his time, like he actually builds an entire score behind it as well too. So I feel like for Bond he's going to do that, he's going to kind of take his own thing. But again, I'd love to see Ludwig Gordonson take a crack at it.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm, Moving on to other things. So this Street Fighter movie, yeah.

Speaker 1:

I don't See there's one movie announcement I was super excited for and then we get to Street Fighter and I'm like what is going on?

Speaker 2:

We're going down a dangerous path. We are so obviously. This movie was greenlit and it was announced, and Katao Sakurai is directing who's probably best known for. He did the Twisted Metal show, he did Bad Trip on Netflix, he directed the Aragondra show, he did Bad Trip on Netflix, he directed the Eric Andre show. So he's directing the Street Fighter movie and we don't know anything about it other than it's coming out next year. And then they just dropped a swath of cast news on this movie and it's all over the place.

Speaker 2:

I don't think this movie's going to good. I think we're gonna. I think I'll start there it feels very like youtube.

Speaker 1:

You know like when movies get like youtubers like to be in the movie yeah, because it's the popular thing to do like I mean, let's start with curtis jackson, 50 cent out of the gate. Like I'm not gonna lie, I was fine with that one. Like I don't know why. I was like all right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so he's playing Balrog, who Balrog is. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Street Fighter, street Fighter is basically Mike Tyson. It's basically who Balrog is. He's like the boxer type character and I can see 50 Cent doing that?

Speaker 1:

Sure, I can see 50 Cent doing that.

Speaker 2:

I can see him doing that. I think it makes total sense. Where it gets weird, it gets weird. It can get weirder. Starting with and this isn't necessarily weird, but it's weird for the rest of the cast, and that's Andrew Koji, playing Ryu, who feels like that's good casting if you're going to try and make a good movie mhm right, like he's in Bullet Train.

Speaker 2:

Um, obviously, warrior is great, mhm, he's got a martial arts background. Yes, yep, um, that makes sense, mhm. So like I saw that first and then I was like, yeah, okay, that makes sense yes, and then it just kept getting weirder. So, um, I guess I'll talk about kalina liang as chun li, who is kind of. She's kind of like in that tiktok youtube, but she can also act right. Um, and then it just then we, then it goes off the rails.

Speaker 2:

Um, so noah centennial is gonna play ken right um, which again I was like, oh okay, sense, good American kind of counterpart to Raidu, which is pretty much what Ken is, and then we just devolve into this trio of just strange casting. So Jason Momoa is going to be Blanca. So, for those of you who don't know, blanca is kind of an electricity-based savage-type monster person, right? I don't know how else to explain it. It doesn't feel very Jason Momoa-y, right. So I thought that was odd. Yeah, love Jason Momoa, but just doesn't. Doesn't feel like it's playing to Jason Momoa's strengths, but at least this is a Jason Momoa-esque movie.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, he did Minecraft. Yeah, he did Fast and Furious.

Speaker 1:

You know, the guy that directed Napoleon Dynamite did Minecraft.

Speaker 2:

Oh Huh, interesting. So then, and then these last two ones are also weird. So Orville Peck is a no relation, is a country music artist. Um, who will be playing vega, who is a masked spanish assassin. So do with you with that. And then, last and not least, um wwe superstar, roman reigns will be playing akuma, which, again, I mean, a ak is Japanese. So, first and foremost, odd choice. And then Andrew Schultz is in this movie. Andrew Schultz is going to be playing Dan Hibiki, which is, I mean, dan is comic relief. So I guess, makes sense. But also, what are we doing here, I don't know man? Oh, alan Richen is also in this movie. He's playing Guile.

Speaker 1:

Oh, maybe they can run up the love interest that we were missing in Fast X between him and Jason Momoa. I won't stop until the franchise makes them a couple. I won't stop.

Speaker 2:

I just I don't know. I can't imagine a world where this movie is any good and makes any money and probably sets back all the goodwill that, like the last of us, has built up and like the mario movie has built up for, like video game movie adaptations, I feel like this movie is destined to set it back right several years yeah um, it it's not even I guess. I guess we'll have to see what happens with it. Um, we'll see, like first kind of first looks whenever they start filming this thing.

Speaker 2:

But it doesn't even seem like it's going in like a like Mortal Kombat got actors for their movie and kind of garnered, kind of like a some goodwill. Some goodwill, I'll say the Mortal Kombat movie generated. Obviously the Cole storyline was not everyone's favorite, but it seems like Mortal Kombat 2 is going to do a proper Mortal Kombat Right. So I don't know, I just had to talk about it because it's insane. It's an insane castle.

Speaker 1:

It is wild, so this movie can teeter, I mean, your comp. That you have to try to get to is probably Mortal Kombat, you know what I mean. That's probably where you're going to have to try to get to is probably Mortal Kombat, you know what I mean. Like, that's probably where you're going to have to want to. Like, that's probably the best you can get. Yeah, the worst you can get is bad. The worst you can get is a YouTube movie, which is probably not what you want to do.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I'm still going to see it. I'll watch it, yeah, because I mean we'll see. Like I just I see a cast like this and, weirdly enough, like I start getting images in my brain of like how the movie's going to look and I'm just envisioning like cheesy CGI, like cringey dialogue is kind of what I'm starting to like envision it Right, and I'm just like I'm not excited to see what ends up happening. I'm not excited to see what ends up happening, but something I am excited to see that's happening is something that caught me totally by surprise. The Punisher is going to be in Spider-Man 4.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'll never forget when that happened, you texted me and I was sleeping and I woke up and I was like I looked up Because you didn't say the Punisher was cast. You said you made a joke about Peter and Punisher interact, like John Bernthal and Tom Holland interacting, and I like I didn't know what to make of it besides a joke. And then I looked on Twitter and I was like, oh wait, he wasn't joking, this is real.

Speaker 2:

Yes, officially announced, you know, by the Hollywood Reporter that John Bernthal will be in Spider-Man 4 as the Punisher, obviously. Reporter, that john bernthal will be in spider-man 4 as the punisher, obviously, um, which you know takes the movie in a totally interesting direction. I mean, I think this pretty much confirms that this is going to be at a street level yes, I think that the studio listened and the studio understood like hey, like you, I don't.

Speaker 1:

I still think this movie is going to make 800 million plus dollars, like obviously the movie. This movie's going to make 800 million plus dollars, like obviously the movie.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I think this movie's going to do really well yeah the movie.

Speaker 1:

any movie that has the name Spider-Man attached to it will do well, it just will.

Speaker 2:

And you have. Now. You have a fan favorite television character, right, that people have been really clamoring to see. Mix it up, right, you know, with the greater MCU, right. I mean that's kind of been the dream, right, since he became the Punisher.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

Man, let's see the Punisher interact with Captain America.

Speaker 1:

Right, you know, let's see the Punisher interact Like put the Punisher in, Like that's always been the Punisher's kind of appeal is like take this man, this angry man, and just have him mix it up with like superpowered people and see how that goes. And that's where I think the mcu needs to go like they need to get back to that realm of like it's. It's like the comic thing if somebody shows up in this thing and you're like, oh shoot, this is like you never think these characters would interact, but they will and it seems like he's gonna play a decent role. I think the pun Punisher special probably will come out, probably during the winter of either this year or the beginning of next year, just so the summer has Spider-Man in it. I think it's cool. I mean they're working together on the Odyssey right now Tom Holland and Jon Bernthal. And Jon Bernthal, I think, was the one that told Tom Holland when he originally auditioned for Spider-Man. He said everybody that auditions will be good, everybody that they just will be. He said you're the only one that can do backflips, so put that in your audition tape and, lo and behold, it helped him get the role of Spider-Man and a very pivotal part for the MCU.

Speaker 1:

Like this is like the MCU debut of literally a top three most iconic superheroes of all time, yeah. So, um, the two of them together, I think, is going to be awesome. They're going to bounce off each other really well. I think that takes Mark Ruffalo out of this movie. I think they were probably trying to work around to get Mark Ruffalo in this movie. I think he's probably not going to be in here now, which I'm fine with If they were going to do. I don't even know how you get Mark Ruffalo in a movie like this. I don't know how you fit Bruce Banner. I don't know how you fit Bruce Banner into the MCU at this point, like I don't know what his whole. You probably missed your opportunity to get him back in in Captain America 4. So I'd rather this be a street level movie.

Speaker 1:

I'm not going to be surprised within the next few weeks if we hear that Vincent D'Onofrio is also going to sell the rights back to Marvel Because they axed every single one of their solo movies. Shocked Is that a shocker reference? They canceled every single one. The last time that happened, marvel got the full rights back to all the netflix characters. So, um, I wouldn't be surprised if the rights revert back to marvel, so they just have spider-man to themselves. Then they can start to do other stuff. I think they want to do that before miles.

Speaker 2:

Morales becomes the main character yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Makes a lot of sense to me, um. Yeah, I mean mean I was just surprised, yeah Surprised, that they were doing that, especially coming off the heels of them saying like no, we want to kind of separate the TV stuff from the movie stuff now. So I mean it's interesting that they're going to cross that in. But I think they are kind of building towards this idea of making I mean, if they do end up getting the rights to Spider-Man back making Spider-Man this kind of like front man for the street level side of the Marvel.

Speaker 1:

Cinematic Universe.

Speaker 2:

I would love.

Speaker 1:

I don't think they'd ever. If you're going to do that, you know what you could do. It'd be tough because I think Tom Holland especially after the Odyssey comes out he'll just be a tried and true like movie star, which he already is. But what I was thinking is, if Marvel really wants to take the full advantage of what Disney plus is, you do a Spider-Man show once you have the full rights and you just run it how you were running the nineties animated, like it's just Spider-Man, it's prime Spider-Man doing prime Spider-Man things for as many seasons as you need it to be Super high quality.

Speaker 1:

You know revolve the characters that you need to do in there Charlie Cox shows up, jon Bernthal shows up. You have other characters show up in there. Like who's to say you don't have like a Sam Wilson show up in that show. You know what I mean. Like I've always had dreams of doing like prime spider-man show weekly basis. Like you know there's no. Like this is differential, like this is it so? Um, maybe we see a realm like that once they get the full rights back, but then you miss out on a billion dollars at the box office. So I don't think that'll ever happen?

Speaker 2:

yeah, yeah, probably not, um, but no, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how they integrate the punisher into, I mean, obviously, the the daredevil born again is like it's in the MCU, but it still feels very hyper-connected to the Daredevil-iverse Right. So I'm curious, and it's interesting that the Punisher is the first one that they're going to properly bring into the fold as far as interacting with the greater MCU. It's super interesting to me that the Punisher is the one that they pick.

Speaker 1:

You would have thought it was going to be Charlie Cox. If they were going to do it. I thought they were going to do a Kingpin. Well, I mean.

Speaker 2:

Daredevil was in no Way Home, but still All the more reason to think it would have been Daredevil that would have shown up.

Speaker 1:

But apparently I guess there's another MCU character that this movie so I it's probably gonna be him or vincent d'onofrio that's the one that I can truthfully see. That kingpin is like the backdoor, like like villain of this actual movie, like, yeah, what I think this movie's gonna play out is, I think they'll cast um martin lee, which just get the guy that played him in the game to be him.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, um, he was in mission impossible as well, too, which was awesome, yes, so, um, I do think're going to cast Steven Yeun, though I do think it's going to be him.

Speaker 2:

That would be great.

Speaker 1:

Because I know there was rumors about it. But either way, whoever they cast, it's probably going to be a great casting. You just have Martin Lean be the main villain of this movie. I don't know who they're going to have. I forget the woman from the Bear what her name is.

Speaker 2:

Because I forget the woman from the Bear what her name is, because she was cast as a villain for this movie as well. Sadie Sink is also in this movie.

Speaker 1:

Well, that's. The big elephant in the room is who is Sadie Sink playing? I've always had this idea of you want to appeal to the broad fans and, I think, to stray away and do some of these like a little bit deeper cuts, characters from like the 90s and 2000s, like there's. It's a blessing and a curse. You're gonna get out of it too, so you gotta like kind of be a bit careful if you're gonna do it. So, um, because I know they were talking about her playing some like different characters, some different love interests for Spider-Man, so I think that's probably the route they're going to go, because she's not going to play MJ. I do somewhat disagree with Zendaya and Jacob Babylon being in this movie. If they are, I hope it's for like a second, like I'd hope they don't like dominate this, like I think that was the whole point. It's like that was the sacrifice he had to make. Yeah, so I'm looking forward to this Me too.

Speaker 1:

We were kind of clamoring like I we're really hoping this movie was street level and, all intents and purposes, it looks like it. Yeah, the punisher is going to be in it.

Speaker 2:

That pretty much confirms it, yeah, unless they give him the war machine suit. I'm you know, I'm still waiting for that. We're getting closer to that, though. Um, we have some dc batman adjacent news. Um, first and foremost, clayface is confirmed, rated r, and tom reese harry's is gonna be playing clayface.

Speaker 1:

Um, it's gonna be like a horror type movie body horror, because james gunn talks about his love for body horror, especially it's funny enough on the scooby-doo movies. Yeah, he talks about his love for, for body horror.

Speaker 2:

Um it's gonna take take on like AI in the movie industry and stuff like that. Deep fakes yeah.

Speaker 1:

Kind of falsified truths as well too, which I think is really interesting. I think Clayface is going to turn into like this, like I think you're going to probably put him in like this swamp thing, as kind of realm, as a character where he's a bit more nuanced than just being like a Batman villain that can just take the face of anybody and just use like and I think that's really interesting like again. This is why I think james gunn is so cool, like he's cognizant that it needs to be batman, superman, wonder woman, need to be your holy trinity, but then your backfill is like a swamp thing movie getting green lit and like a clay face movie getting green lit and like some people can be like, well, that's not priority. And I'm like, did you watch the suicide squad and did you watch peacemaker? Because, like he immediately gives validity to why these characters matter, juxtaposed to why superman and batman and wonder woman matter. So I'm actually really excited to see what a movie like this can look like yeah, me too.

Speaker 2:

Um for sure. And then the other bit of news is matt reeves finally apparently turned in the script for the batman.

Speaker 1:

Yep, he got doc 10 points off his final grade because he turned the. He turned it in late. Took him long enough. Took him long enough. What were you doing, matt?

Speaker 2:

Reeves. I don't know how we knew that this was happening, like the whole time was going on. They're like Matt Reeves is gonna turn in his script in two weeks and like how do we know? How do we know this? Because people can't shut up. Um, so he finally turned it in, I guess. So Batman, the Batman 2, is, I guess, in full force. Not really, yeah, we still don't know anything about it. We don't know who's in it other than Robert Pattinson.

Speaker 1:

Robert Pattinson will definitely be in this movie. What's his name? Will definitely be in this movie too Colin Farrell. I don't think you can tell. Yeah, you probably. Now he's like the king of crime in gotham. Until you know. Probably joker shows up at some, which he already did. Barry keegan is playing joker. Um, obviously, you're probably gonna get cat woman back as well too all the all your favorites, all your favorites are back. What, what, what does this movie look like for you? What does the batman part two look like?

Speaker 2:

I don't know at this point, I don't know any any dreams you have for this film. Um, I mean, just based on how the last one went, I do think I told you, I keep telling you, what my, my dream, I guess, scenario for this movie is is that you use, you do, batman up against you know some type of hush, probably like hush type character and you use the joker as like his hannibal lecter and like they kind of like quasi work together to like unsolve or solve a mystery in gotham. I think that would be really cool. Yeah, because it's not. It's not something that we've really seen on screen before yeah, um, obviously, his batman is very much more realistic.

Speaker 1:

Um, I still think that batman has, like the, it can still have the slightest bit of fantastical, just the slightest bit. Um, for that reason alone, I think that mr freeze would be like you set this movie a few months after. Obviously, then, if gotham's underwater, what's gonna happen when the winter goes? It's gonna freeze. Um, you don't necessarily have to give him the gun, but you can kind of just do this like deranged scientist in gotham or something, something along those lines. I just think the casting for something like that is more important. Realistically, I think they're gonna probably go hush. I think that's probably. You probably get like a big, you try to get like a bigger a-list actor to play hush.

Speaker 1:

Uh, juxtaposed to him, um, to robert pattinson I mean they already teased it and um, they, this reporter got killed, that his father was. You know his father his father had killed. Like, I truthfully think you can probably build, you know, like you said, a hush type of story as well too. Um, I guess you're probably dealing with two elephants in the room. Um, one is it's the robin situation. Like, do you tackle a robin in this movie? Do you even think Robin in this movie. Do you even think about doing that? And then you have to kind of show the progression of Bruce Wayne into the billionaire playboy. I think that's the one thing that they need to address is kind of get him further along to be like more of a prime version of Batman.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, both those things make sense. I know people were really trying to get the Mr Freeze thing going after the batman released, um, so we'll see. I mean, I think I think the reason that the script took took so long to make is because, truly, the state of dc films was in such flux that I don't think matt reeves even knew where he and his batman kind of fit into anything. Yeah, so now I think he probably has a better idea of that. Yeah, whether it's you know, whether they're folding him into the DCU, whether it's going to be kind of like it's still a little side thing. Regardless, I think he now has the answer and I think his script is written to whatever that answer is.

Speaker 1:

Because, listen, there's a very real possibility where he could be the DCU Batman. I just don't know about Robert Pattinson's idea for being because the last franchise he was in we saw how that went, but this is a whole different scenario. And him as an actor I mean he's leading one of the biggest sci-fi franchises as a villain in the next Dune movie, because I think he's shooting Dune and then he's shooting this like straight back to back.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, I think he's more comfortable in his skin as a actor that he. I don't think the franchise thing much bothers him anymore.

Speaker 1:

No, and I think the critical reception to the batman as well, too, probably helps, because the last time he had a franchise thing it was, it was critical reception was like he's the teen heartthrob that everybody hates and he and he was like, and he was like in a weird way, like he was shackled to twilight exactly, whereas I don't think he's shackled to.

Speaker 2:

He's clearly not shackled to the batman, because he's been doing other things.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean look at his Bruce Wayne and then look at a movie like Mickey 17. He's played two and that's what every director that's worked with him has kind of said is like he is such a chameleon of an actor, of like you can give him something and then he'll kind of adapt. I mean, look at that. And then you look at Tenet. Like you're talking about three completely different characters that he embodies so completely different characters that he embodies so, um, I wouldn't. My true hope is like I want to see him juxtaposed to david corn sweat.

Speaker 1:

I feel like the two of them would be phenomenal together. They're both, you know, taller individuals. They're both like and like I said, like if you progress his bruce wayne along to more to that billionaire playboy, like I think the two of them against each other would be absolutely, but not even against each other with each other and I boxed you the point about the confusion. I think that's the true fear I have is, like, within years of each other, presumably if the batman part three gets greenlit, like having two prime batman run against each other is going to be so difficult to do. Yeah, so, and obviously the flash movie took years to come out, so Ben Affleck would have already been done playing Flash or playing Batman by that time anyway. So when? Because the Batman came out in 2022, right? So I don't think you want to have two Batman just for like general audience sake.

Speaker 1:

I think that's the true thing. I think I think probably the dcu front, james guns and I and I understand why he probably wants he doesn't probably want to touch that because of how like, how good it is. Like I don't, I don't want to touch that batman, like I want my own batman for the dcu. I just see a world where, like, the general audience gets too confused. I'm like why do I need to see this one if this one's connected to Superman and everybody else?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, no, totally. We live in a world where everything has to matter and everything has to be connected. When you're talking about these franchise movies, so you can't really get away with that. You could have probably gotten away with it in the early 2000s yeah, you probably couldn't have gotten away with it. But now people are so hyper fixated on continuity that you, you can't, you can't do it, especially in the one of them, one of them would suffer, suffer for it and unfortunately it's probably going to be it would probably be matt reese.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Um, we got a couple trailers to talk about.

Speaker 2:

Um, first and foremost, the final fantastic four trailer has released and I think the takeaway is the silver surfer is serving yeah, she is serving his beginning I don't know what, maybe julia garner can just do that with her voice but that like robotic, like soulless delivery of that heralding galactus line, I was like captivated, right. Um, you know, we didn't we, we got some we. What we got in this last trailer was a lot of um, I guess, just a lot of like kind of actiony bits and kind of the, the proper, like you feel like the story which we kind of know already. This story is going to revolve around the kid. It's going to revolve around franklin richards, yeah, in some form or fashion. Um, we got, I think we got.

Speaker 1:

This is probably the most we've gotten out of johnny storm in these trailers and out of reed as well too, on a physical front, and I mean we can kind of go character to character. So, just starting with pedro pascal, I mean he had that huge, what was it? Uh, was it variety variety interview? Yeah, he had a big piece for variety. Um, he was kind of talking about all the characters he played and you know the pressure that he has now. You know it's funny enough like a character, like an actor of that caliber I mean at this point he's probably the most famous like modern actor on the planet right now is Pedro Pascal.

Speaker 1:

So, like you know, for him stepping into a role like this, it's like it's not that easy. Like I have to kind of appease the comic book fans, I have to appease the general audiences and like I already have, like my mustache, I already have something against, like I have things against me intrinsically. So it's funny. I was kicking through the original 63 comics because I have that, I have the omnibus of like their first issues and I'm like the more and more I see of his reed richards, I'm like they actually nailed it, like he actually nailed it to the point where they told him to dial back the transatlantic accent and they said chill out with that man, you're too good at it um his powers. Look good he I think they did.

Speaker 1:

It looks pretty. It's so tough to do it too, to do the stretchy powers um, but they, they did a really good job.

Speaker 2:

He looks, he looks really good and again, I maintain that this movie is not gonna lean into his elasticity being his superpower. They're gonna. This movie's gonna lean into his mind being a super. Yes, yes, I'd maintain that. I think that that is a. Obviously, like you said, it's hard to do b. I think they're really not gonna lean into the elasticity that much, because I think they're really not going to lean into the elasticity that much because I think they're going to lean into his mind being his superpower is what I think right this movie is going to do um you know, just thinking, because I can't help myself.

Speaker 1:

Um, I do think they're going to do a council of reed situation in this movie, because we got to make the billion dollars, we got to get from the 850 to the billion dollars, so I can definitely see a world where they joan griffin, john krasinski I would love if miles teller was there, but he was the maker as well too. I think that would be really cool. Um, but yeah, I mean, you go to sue storm. It's, it's still my, it's still my favorite casting out of this entire. It is absurd how good she looks as sue storm. Um, you know, she looks like the true field leader and the true like social and public leader of the of the fantastic four as well too. And then you know her being, you know a mother in this film as well too. Like, all those things are super important, like it. Just, it looks so good. Um, they're not hiding the baby bump anymore, which I love, because they were hiding it they're also not hiding the baby.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, they're not hiding the baby at all because, like now in the trailer, you see her baby bump as well too. The baby is also in the trailer, exactly. Yep, um, ben looks. I mean, eban moss bachrock is ben grim was one of the most inspired castings you could have thought, thought about. He has a beard. He has a beard. What time is it, ben?

Speaker 1:

He looks so good. I I love how subtle and it's like it's such a juxtaposition to him playing richie and the bear, like he's such more subtle he's, he's much more you know of, like you know lack of a better term like the rock of this team. Like he looks like just really much like, uh, just like. I mean, the design also is just design is incredible, it is. It is why, like I was thinking about this with superman and with these suits, I was like you couldn't even do this in 2012, you couldn't even do this like a full commit to just like, not only just the, the suits, but the movie itself. Like, do the comic booky stuff, do the outlandish stuff? You don't have to make it, you know, you don't have to settle it down for anybody. You, you can just do the things, so I'm super excited. And then Johnny. So Joseph Clintus, johnny Storm.

Speaker 2:

People are coming around and I'm just like why is anyone surprised that he's nailing this?

Speaker 1:

I was on that train. I was on the train of like I don't know, but now I'm sure this type of role is what made him famous.

Speaker 2:

Exactly Right, you know, spitfire like loud mouth cocky. This is who eddie was in. Stranger things with a heart of gold, yeah, and that, yeah, and I think that's gonna shine through in this movie at various points, as you're gonna, as you're gonna see that element of johnny's character. Um, super, yeah, he again. This was probably the most we saw of him as Johnny in any of these trailers and he's just, you can tell, he just gets it. So, and then, yeah, we saw a little bit more of Galactus. We saw him suiting up.

Speaker 1:

I love the approach that they're taking, like they're not showing full Galactus, they're really like they're really playing up the event and that's what I really appreciate. Like this this is an end of the world film. Like this is a true, like it's like armageddon exactly.

Speaker 1:

This is like armageddon um, it's like 2012, like this is a true end of the world film, which is really. It's a really interesting take because, like, I feel like the fantastic four play is like this, like hopeful group. But I love the approach of like you take this family that's already been through some trials and tribulations and you put them in the end of the world scenario and you kind of see how they adapt, what they do, how they approach it and you know how do they still stay the heroes that are supposed to keep the world safe? And you know it goes into the point about Reed Richards, about you know, are we safe? I don't know Like. I don't know Like, and I'm the one that's supposed to know. I hope that drives him. I hope it drives him insane. I want to see all those things and I think that's why you cast Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, because he can teeter that line between being lovable and being a sadistic maniac, and I really appreciate that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I'm super excited. They're holding the voice. They're holding Ralph Innoc the voice. They're holding ralph einstein's greatest weapon, aside from him being able to destroy planets, is his voice. Um, which is which is interesting, um, we know that ralph einstein was in a proper galactus practical costume, insane stomping around miniature cities, miniature sets.

Speaker 1:

Bring back real filmmaking, said Max Shackman.

Speaker 2:

Gareth Edwards. Somewhere is like that's my type of filmmaking, right there.

Speaker 1:

Gareth Edwards actually just got a cosmic being.

Speaker 2:

So that's the one trick they haven't pulled yet is showing Galactus, which I think is perfect.

Speaker 1:

They have shown the Silver Surfer, though, and Julia Garner looks phenomenal as the Silver Surfer. She sounds incredible. I herald his beginning. I herald your end. It's like wait, what is she cooking?

Speaker 2:

Someone back there like is that alien kind of no, no, hmm, no, someone somewhere. You know what? I am okay with a female silver server, actually you know what?

Speaker 1:

Maybe the world does need to, maybe we do need to be consumed.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, like I said, I don't know. Like I said, I don't know what it is, I don't know if she can just do that with her voice or they. The voice modulation, or they did that, but it sounded menacing.

Speaker 1:

I don't particularly know if she can just do that with her voice it sounded menacing.

Speaker 1:

So I mean I'm excited to see more of that character also yeah, I'd see it looks like the action sequences are going to be cool. Um, whatever, the space mission that they have in the end is going to be awesome. But I I just you made the best point, you know, early on when these trailers started coming out and kind of more images, things like. I'm most excited to see what they do with reed richards to differentiate him. I think yoan griffin does a good job of being like, especially in the second one of like. No, I care about the science, but they still play it down a bit to have his heroic moments like. I want to see a reed that's a little bit disconnected like but then gets reeled back in by sue storm. I think that's what pedro and and vanessa really have going well for each other.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. So we got that coming up in three weeks-ish, which is crazy, and then we got another trailer for Project Hail Mary, so we talked about this a little bit a couple months or a month and a half ago. Maybe it is an adaptation of a novel written by the same author who wrote the Martian it stars Ryan Gosling, and we're going back to space adaptation of a novel written by this, but the same author who wrote the martian um stars ryan gosling, and we're going to. We're going back to space. The sun is dying. We gotta send one.

Speaker 2:

We have one hope his name is movie star ryan it's ryan gosling and we're gonna send him to space to fix the sun.

Speaker 1:

Um looks good it looks so good. Um, they showed it at CinemaCon and the crowd was basically like no, this looks insane, like this is like an absolutely insane film that's about to happen. I mean, for all intents and purposes, it looks really good. I mean just so for people that don't know about the book itself. I think it came out in the 2020s. Whatever year it came out, I think it was the popular year book of that year in which it came out. It's the same person that wrote uh andy ware, who wrote uh the martian, so that's kind of you know your cell right there.

Speaker 1:

Um, I was super surprised when ryan gosling signed on to be in this movie. I remember they announced both at the same time. We're doing a project tail mary movie and ryan gosling's gonna be in it. I said, huh, ryan movie star Ryan Gosling. Um, and then Lord and Miller were the ones that were directing this and you're like wait a minute, just you. You just wait a second. Um, obviously, you have Sandra Hewler in here, um, oscar winner as well, too, which is awesome. Um, and then you know the crew itself I mean Greg Fraser, you add in there as well, too to shoot the movie. I mean, greg Fraser, you add in there as well too, to shoot the movie.

Speaker 1:

I mean, the movie visually looks so good Like. It looks absolutely incredible. Like you said, the story is simple the son's dying Ghost's in sixth grade teacher. Every star is dying, every star except for one, and then every star is infecting the other stars, so they don't know that basically the whole galaxy is about. The whole universe is about to explode, so we got to figure that. Or about to go cold, so we have to figure this out. Um, so yeah, I mean it looks fun Like. It has a lot of like the comedic in the timing and humor of of the Martian as well too, but it also looks like it has a lot of heart as well too. Um, and then Lord and Miller know how to really play a motion. So I really think they got a fun movie. It's coming out in March, so solid first quarter of the year film that's going to come out in 2026. So I think they nailed everything in this. I have no reservations. This looks really great.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I'm looking forward to it. There's also an alien element as well.

Speaker 1:

Rocky.

Speaker 2:

Which I saw. A lot of people were saying, oh, did this spoil the movie? But apparently no. Um, according to book readers, the alien shows up quite early in the book so there's a lot apparently to come still in this plot, which I'm looking forward to it. I'm really looking forward to it. Um, superman, um. So superman has obviously a long, long history. Character first appeared in 1938. Actually, comic number one. You know the story, you know the story.

Speaker 1:

He lifts up the green car. He lifts up the green car.

Speaker 2:

He wears his trunks on the outside of his pants.

Speaker 2:

He is the archetype, the archetypal hero. There's really no other way to explain it. And then segue into obviously we have this thing, we have this character. That is truth, justice in the American way. And it wasn't the time. And how do we make the dollars off this character? Said movie studios and TV studios.

Speaker 2:

So the first live action appearance of superman was in 1948, um, in a serial, and was portrayed by kirk allen, was the first live action superman. Um, and then a sequel serial serial, adam man versus superman, came out in 1950. Um, and by all intents and purposes kirk allen was well regarded as kind of superman. He, you know, thought much like everyone at the time, thought that superman was impossible to do as a tv show or a movie. Um, and he just kind of, as you do in the in the day, like he could. They just kind of like hey, you kind of look like clark kent, you want to be Superman. Um, and then he was. Um. Unfortunately, kirk Allen's career never really took off. Um, you're going to see that as a through line. Um, especially early Right, first couple, first couple goes around for these Superman actors. Um, he did appear in the 1978 movie as Sam Lane. Yeah, um, which was which was nice that he was able to come back, um, you know, kind of be in the Superman universe, um, but he had a. He had a relatively kind of you know, non spectacular career, um, after Superman kind of had trouble getting work passed away in 1999, the age of 80 AD, um, so that was the first kind of iteration of Superman in live action kind of got the ball rolling as far as, like, um, you know, is this possible? Like, can we do? You know, we can do Batman, we can do kind of more normal hero type serials. Can we actually do Superman? Um, and the answer was yes, yes, we can. Um, and then that paves the way for George Reeves.

Speaker 2:

So George Reeves a little bit more of a checkered history with Superman got to play the character in the Superman, like a Superman TV show. Basically. He portrayed the character for many, many years Throughout. He did a couple movies. He portrayed the character for many, many years throughout. He did a couple movies but was really marred by the character and by the.

Speaker 2:

You know he was tight cast, yeah, as the Superman actor, right, and you know it caused him to not be able to get a lot of work. It caused him to not be able to get a lot of work, mm-hmm, you know, and his you know, his career was kind of cut short by portraying Superman for so many years. He portrayed Superman for six years, from 1952 to 1958. And then he died in 1959, a year later after Superman ended, at the age of 45, he committed suicide and then, you know, you know most, I mean, unfortunately. The most notable thing for George Reeves was he was brought back quote-unquote in the flash, um, in that baffling sequence, um of like the quote-unquote like DC multiverse, and they brought George Reeves back um with. I don't even believe it was greenlit by his estate that he was put into this movie. So just a really rough kind of like Hollywood's take on Superman that after he portrayed the character and died, we don't see Superman again for 20 years, right, um, um.

Speaker 1:

But obviously when he does reappear we get Christopher Reeve um the single most iconic superhero actor that's ever graced the planet.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yeah, I don't think there's any question that you can debate, quote unquote, who's the best, who's this, who's that? Um, when it comes to christopher reeve, this is. It's maybe maybe less so nowadays because it's 2025 and we're 50 years on, but this is who people think of when they think of superman right and I think the more important thing for him, it's the cultural impact that he had on the world when he became Superman in 78.

Speaker 1:

Like you know, a world you know some years removed from a war, from a massive war the Vietnam War, you know coming into you know the 80s, the pop culture, nature of the 80s as well too. What Richard Donner and team were able to do in 78 was, you know the tagline you're, you're gonna see a man fly. Like you know it's belief not only in you know that statement, but it's a belief in hope. That's, truthfully, the stake in the cultural world stake that superman has. I mean, you know, obviously we'll talk about it when we get into you know what david corn sweat, hopefully, is going to do with this role, but and what James Gunn wants to do with the character overall.

Speaker 1:

But what the true power of Superman is, it's the kid that looks up and you know he sees this. He or she sees this beacon of hope flying. You know that's what I, that's the true strength of what Christopher Reeve was like. You know to think you can do a little bit better as a person to, like you know, get an audience that's, you know, encompassing of all in there. It doesn't matter who you are, where you came from, that you're capable of doing good, and I think Christopher Reeves approaches it with such this subtlety and such this like friend, like I'm just a friend, like I'm a friend that you know, that you can trust and that you know I can help you do a little bit better.

Speaker 2:

He talked to me, he talked about that, he talked about his, his, he doesn't when he, as you know, one of the things that attracts him to the role was the duality of Clark Kent and Superman, obviously. But he said, you know, in playing Superman that he, christopher Reeve, was a big, a big man. He was six foot four. You know, he was kind of slender.

Speaker 1:

But he wasn't. You know he was. He was a big man, yeah.

Speaker 2:

He wasn't a small man, so he decided to play Superman, as he kind of underplayed it where, like, it was very calm, it was very casual, like he. Um, I think the term he used was he wanted the audience to feel an implied power. Right, like like he, he doesn't have to puff out his chest, you know what I mean. He doesn't have to, he doesn't have to act strong because he is strong, right? Um, you know he wanted people to see a familiarity and a calmness in superman, which I think it was. Obviously it was a tremendous decision. Um, you know, they put him opposite some really really talented actors.

Speaker 2:

Um, marlon brando played his father, yeah, that's probably one of the biggest deals as well at the time yeah, yeah, um gene hackman, obviously the late great gene hackman, playing lex luther um an iconic kind of portrayal of lex luther at the time. Um, and it just he just went from there, man, he and just in real life and you're gonna you know you kind of you get this with with actors from time to time like in real life was a philanthropic, you know um, an activist, um, just an overall good good, a good man um, that he kind of carried into. He played superman, you know, across four films, um, and then obviously the story of christopher reeve. You know tragedy cut, you know his his acting career right very short. You know he was, you know, paralyzed in a in a horse accident, um, but even then, you know, didn't let that stop him continued to be an activist, continued, you know, do all these great things um, for you know, in the.

Speaker 2:

You know he was a great activist for those disabilities um, up until his death, you know, in the um I think he died in the early 2000s, I think he died in 2004. You know this is the gold standard. You know you hope that any actor that you cast, you know, not just for Superman, but just any actor that you cast in a heroic type role. Christopher Reeve is the one. Is what you shoot for.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean you know the importance of that movie coming out in 78. Like, you know what we always kind of get to we always talk about spider-man, the, the ramy trilogy, we always talk about blade, we talk about x-men. You know we don't talk about in 78 superman coming out, because it that's like the grandfather one, like that's the one that's so important that you can do the comic book things you know. You can have the character where the tight or the you know the tights and the and have the cape and fly around and do good like they're so encompassing of each other and so important. So that being your backbone, I think is super important yeah, and he can.

Speaker 2:

I mean he continued to work you know before, during and after superman. Um, obviously superman was kind of you know his, where he made his, made his money and made you know was uh kind of most notoriety for. But I don't think he ever fell into the typecast you know kind of hole that the earlier actors fell into. Um, you know just, he just played the part so well and people were like you're like, like you're Superman, and he was comfortable in that role and I think that's really, really cool. So Superman 4 comes out in 1987. We get a Superboy kind of Smallville, pre-smallville, um, in 1990, 1988 to 1992, um, you have John Hames Newton and Gerard Christopher play Clark Kent in the Superboy tv show. Um, never really goes anywhere. Um, neither actor kind of really rises to much prominence. Um, then this is kind of you know, you kind of talk about you know a Superman. You know, is this character cursed? Um, is this, can this work like is? Was christopher reeve like kind of?

Speaker 1:

like the unicron, yeah, yeah, um, and then we go to 1993.

Speaker 2:

We, we superman takes a break from, from film um, and they think, you know, maybe superman works better on tv, like as a serial um. So we get lois and Clark, the New Adventures of Superman, starring Dean Cain. Um, and this, you know, kind of brought Superman back to the forefront um in the early 90s um, through Dean Cain's portrayal of Superman, which was again a little more understated um, but good for TV, I would say. The show ran for four years. It was written for a much more modern Superman. It focuses much more on Lois and Clark's relationship. So you start to see you're going to start to see this through line too, of really the what works for TV is the love story is what you kind of get with lois and clark, right, um, because you start to see that kind of shot. I mean, she's her name's in the title, right um.

Speaker 2:

So that's kind of where you start to see kind of lois and clark as a, as a unit right, take, take to the forefront and then, which leads us to so new adventures of superman ends in 1997 and then in 2001, you get smallville um. Tom welling show runs for 10 years. It's great, there's really no other way to say it. I mean this this was the thing that made superhero tv cool um yep was smallville.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's funny how, if christopher reeve and richard donner built that superman for superman to work on the big screen smallville and for superheroes in general to work on the big screen smallville really ignited what superheroes can do on the on the silver screen because there's so, there's so many superheroes there is so many superheroes um Smallville, you know, kind of ushered in this era of continuity in an interconnected greater universe yep um, um, where Smallville, despite the backdrop of being this prequel story, integrated so many DC characters, um, in a cool kind of wacky like they're.

Speaker 2:

They're kind of heroes, but they're kind of all just kind of prototypes for themselves. It definitely felt like the early 2000s oh for sure, but just in the best way, like they threw Supergirl in there. They threw the Flash Green Arrow. Cyborg, cyborg.

Speaker 1:

Martian Manhunter Season 10 just has Doomsday in it, solid design too.

Speaker 2:

It's kind of wild, yeah that you know all the stuff that they ended up doing with.

Speaker 1:

Smallville. I think what Smallville also does, and especially Tom Welling, like being in the early 2000s, like really the teenage fever dream of what it could have been Like I think he plays on that well Like he doesn't have the true altruism of superman, yet he's learning, he's navigating and that's true youth. Like you're learning how to be a human being, you're learning how to be a good human being and he evolves throughout that, through through the 10 seasons that that show went on for which is insane.

Speaker 2:

so yeah, the fact that they got 10 seasons out of a, out of a super Superman prequel show just goes to show you the strength of it and how much people resonated with it and we really felt like if they weren't clamoring for it, they were clamoring for it once they had it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the audience for that is broad because, like I said, you have like the youthful exuberance of what you know. His Superman was like a T he was a teenager into a young adult.

Speaker 2:

But then you had the true Superman fans, and then it was just solid television as well too. Yeah, it is. It is the, the, the white whale, by which all prequels yeah, exactly four, I mean we saw. I mean, how many prequels have we seen, you know, go and fail. Like you know, gotham is not small, and I think Gotham wrestled with its own identity, in the sense that they didn't want it to be about Batman until they realized it had to be about Batman. And by then it was too late.

Speaker 2:

You know, I mean this show did so much.

Speaker 1:

I mean Doomsday, dodd they get lex luther lex yeah I mean michael rosenbaum lex luther is iconic right you know, um, he's like the. He's one of the teeter points for what, or the totem poles for what a super villain should be. And, like you know how many reference points do you think he's probably taken from over how much superhero, uh, things have come out after that yeah, I mean erica durance is like, uh, black swifter, boas lane, um, and they didn't.

Speaker 2:

What they did was they kind of slow, played the clark and lois sub, which gave it this kind of drama angle, like they. Like it's lois lane superman. You know they're going to, but they still were able to play up this will-they-won't-they dynamic between the two of them. Aaron Ashmore was in this show as Jimmy Olsen, but yeah, I mean so many different characters show up in this that it's kind of crazy and it kept Superman around like in the zeitgeist for 10 years, you know, um, and I mean while while smallville is going on, you get superman returns yes, that's, this is a.

Speaker 1:

This is an important one, because I think this was a studio ask to say we want to do we're ready? Yeah, we're ready, because before this, a few people were supposed to play superman and probably most, most notably, nicholas cage was supposed to play superman in that time yeah, they in the.

Speaker 2:

While smallville is running like the studios, warner brothers is struggling to get another superman movie off the ground but what happened in 2005 for for warner brothers?

Speaker 1:

they got this absolutely. They got this filmmaker named Christopher Nolan to do a dark and gritty take on Batman, where Batman before that in the 90s was like is Batman serious? And Christopher Nolan said, yes, he is, I'll show you that he's serious. So I think the studio also said if we can get Batman to work, we can get Superman to work and these IPs are going to make us money. Smallville is doing well. Smallville is doing well. So people like superman.

Speaker 2:

but what's the one drawback to smallville?

Speaker 1:

he's not, he's not superman, he's not superman. So the studio said let's do a superman movie. The one thing that they under that they did that, I think, is like it robs brandon routh a bit is that he is christopher reeves superman.

Speaker 2:

That's the only thing that I thought about that it's because it's the last reference point that they had. Yeah, they haven't made a Superman movie in 20 years. Yep, to this point, right. And they kind of looked at Brandon Routh the same way they look at Christopher.

Speaker 1:

Reeve yes.

Speaker 2:

Tall Mm-hmm Handsome A friend. He looks like.

Speaker 1:

Superman. He looks like Clark Kent.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, brandon Routh, really looks like Clark Kent, he looks like Superman. They get you know, they get what's his name Bryan Singer. Mm-hmm To do this. They pull him essentially off of X-Men. Mm-hmm, yeah, they did. Did Yep To do this? Yep kind of suffers for that as well. Like, um and you're right to this point like this is supposed to be the same. It's supposed to be the fifth movie, essentially. Yeah, um, it's called superman returns, and I think brandon routh is quite good, oh that I.

Speaker 1:

I don't know if we want to rank the superman when we're done. It's such a tough thing to do but I love brandon routh as superman like and it's even beyond him playing Christopher Reeve. Essentially, I just think he's a phenomenal Superman. Like I said, he's the front. I think it's his. It's the same way I really like Ben Affleck as Batman. It's because of his Bruce Wayne. It's the same thing for Brandon Routh. I love his Clark Kent. That's the most Clark Kent, clark Kent I think we've gotten so far.

Speaker 2:

Besides Christopher Reeve, obviously. And yeah, the movie. You know the budget is huge, the movie doesn't perform super well. So that is the marks, the beginning, and then you know kind of film itself was also.

Speaker 1:

It was bogged down by like the thing, like the whole he's Lex is trying to convert earth into a like totally that movie is all over the place a bit too. Yeah it is. I Like totally that movie is all over the place a bit too. Yep it is.

Speaker 2:

I used to love that movie when I was a kid I loved that movie.

Speaker 1:

So that movie comes and goes essentially, and that was the first in, so we thought it was the first and last time we'd see Brandon Routh as Superman.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I guess the thing that kind of ties Tom Welling and Brandon Routh together is they both return in Christ on infinite earth as their respective characters. Um and I think for Tom Welling, I think it was, it was cute, I guess is the best way I can put it Um, he comes back and you find out he lives with Lois, they have kids, he's surrendered his powers, he's mortal Um, which fits, I think, the Smallville iteration of superman um, we're like that's kind of the joke is like we never saw him as superman um, and now we see him again, all these years later, and he's surrendered his powers and he's just tom welling. Look great though yeah, he did huge yeah yeah, he is jacked.

Speaker 1:

He should just play Superman, maybe.

Speaker 2:

And then, obviously, brandon Routh returns as a mixture of his own Superman and the Kingdom Come version of Superman. He's, like you said before about him being Clark Kent, like embodying Clark Kent. I feel like in that crossover he embodied Superman Right.

Speaker 1:

Right For all intents and purposes, and a Superman that had lost everything but still kept the hope alive, like that was the truest part. And it made me so happy Because Brandon Routh, in that same universe, was already playing Rafe Homer. I know, Already been doing so much legwork as that character both in Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, the way he was able to just turn it on and felt like Superman was kind of wild. It's awesome, Also one of the best suits.

Speaker 1:

Oh my, that kingdom come suit is fun because it's george reeve's suit, but with the kingdom come you know, finished to it.

Speaker 2:

It's awesome, it's so cool yeah and yeah, just you feel like the anguish in that character when you know, because he's kind of sent out as the uh kind of like. He's bouncing around to all these different earths trying to save as many people as he can. He keeps failing these earths keep getting destroyed.

Speaker 2:

And he returns and he like slams his fist on the ground and like the uh, elizabeth tolick version of lois lane is there. And she's like why don't you like take a break? And he's like I can't, like I have to go back out there, um, and then she asked him about the symbol, like why you know why they're red and black, and he said you know, so you always know that hope cuts through the darkness. That's why he added the black to the symbol. And then you see him at the end almost with like a prototype version of the david corn sweat suit, yeah, where it's the blue and the yellow right, and he and he does the Superman Returns, like fly around the Earth, which is great.

Speaker 2:

So, super stoked for Brandon Routh. So seven years pass from Superman Returns to Henry Cavill, the marred history that is Henry Cavill as Superman. I mean you know what he might you know what?

Speaker 1:

I'm going to take back that statement because I think Brandon Routh hit the Andrew Garfield thing. Yeah, like when he came back, like it felt fulfilled when he came back. Like he came back to the point where he can get a little bit more. Henry Cavill's I think is still too fresh. Like I would love, years down the line, that Henry Cavill plays like an older version of Clark Kent. Like I do still see Henry Cavill as like a kingdom come version of Superman. Like I still see that in him. Man, what a titular, what a wild ride. Yeah, and again first up top. I feel horrible for him for like kind of what he had to go through from this role. Like he just and and like I mean you know me, like you know how much. Like that was my favorite Superman. Like I loved Henry Cavill as Superman so much Like and cause that movie came out when I was 14, I think man of Steel came out when I was 14.

Speaker 1:

I remember seeing it in theaters and I was like I'm like this is awesome, this is so freaking awesome no-transcript best, but they're not the most important to you. I want to know what. I want to know why you think like in the modern age, playboy cardi or something like that you see what I'm saying Like you can say this person is your favorite, but like for me, talking about filmmaking, I mean I can sit here and be like Martin Scorsese is my favorite director, or you know. Or Quentin Tarantino is my favorite director, but like I don't.

Speaker 1:

Obviously they made films from my childhood into on, but like when they were, truthfully, at the like, the true heights of their careers, I was either too young or not alive yet. Yeah, so for me, like henry cavill was my superman, like he literally was my superman as I grew up into my older, like he was my superman for the longest time. So, like I remember, like I I wasn't. I think I was in new york when I saw this movie for the first time and I walked out of the theater and my mind was blown. That, truthfully, was my Superman. His performance embodied what we thought was the modern age of where superhero films were going to a little bit more realistic, a little bit more serious. For all intents and purposes, he was Superman to me, kind of to see that happen. He doesn't get a sequel like a solo sequel, which is wild. Absolutely insane that he did't get a sequel like a solo sequel, which is in wild. Absolutely insane that he did not get a solo sequel he dies in the second he dies in his second film.

Speaker 1:

I don't understand the reproach to that and never, I never will understand why that was the approach. Um, he obviously for different reasons. The justice League comes out in 2017. They CGI'd over his face because Mission Impossible got in the way. Another just insane, absolutely insane thing to happen. It's like the weirdest little things kept happening to Henry Cavill as Superman, like he couldn't stick the landing. So what movies was he in? He was in man of Steel, batman vs Superman. Like he couldn't stick the landing, like so what movies was he in?

Speaker 2:

He was in man of Steel, batman versus Superman, Justice League, mm-hmm, black adam, wow, and that was superman and black adam was also this weird thing, because it felt like, yeah, I don't know what it felt like, well, it was to the point like that's when the rock had like ultimate say and like the world, like the entertainment industry, well, the rock was like gonna save dc comedy.

Speaker 1:

He not only was gonna to, yeah, he was going to save DC. Like the DCEU was going to go back into like the front and, like you know, he was going to be a pillar character and, like Henry Cavill. And I remember when that happened, I know DC Studios started to like take the turn, like I think the point was that whatever, because you know how, like they'll put movies on the schedule, like the third andrew garfield movie ended up being tom holland's first one. Like that's how they work it out. Like, for all intents and purposes, the david corn sweat movie probably would have came in, came out earlier, and that would have been henry cavill's next superman movie, so he was supposed to come back, play superman. And then same thing happened to andrew garfield. They were like nope, we got a new guy, you're out after the rock, basically because they have the same agent. I think, yeah, the rock basically promised like no, you're gonna be superman again and you will just be superman the best he'd ever looked at superman too the suit is incredible.

Speaker 2:

He looked incredible um it's been a while since anyone made a world this nervous. Um, just a weird 10 year period for him yeah, that he just never.

Speaker 1:

He just never got to the heights that I feel like he deserved to get, and the thing that sucks is he started to evolve as an actor too, like he really started to turn himself into like a really, a really good actor. I mean you see him in mission impossible fallout yeah, um, how great he is as a villain. And, like you know, he just never got his chance like his true swing to play.

Speaker 2:

It sounds bizarre since he'd been playing the character since 2013 but he never got.

Speaker 1:

He never got, like a fair shot, yeah four appearance appearances of superman in 10 years in a connected universe, and one is a cameo. One is a cameo and then one he's dead for most of the film.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So I'll never understand Like I will always be on the train. I feel horrible for kind of you know the career that he had, like the career path, like I'm glad he's off to better roles now and to better things. But just I of you know the career that he had, like the career path, like I'm glad he's off to better roles now and the better things. But just I think you know it's funny. I think that's the true misunderstanding of what Superman is like. And you know we're inside baseball. I was having this conversation with somebody we're inside, like we know like we'll take any iteration of the character and break it down Like the. But one thing people that like us not us, but people like us that do this always forget is that we're inside baseball. This is what we eat, live and breathe every day.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

We're not the general audience. The general audience will always take the more important precedence. The general audience gets you the billion dollars. The inside baseball people do not get you a billion dollars.

Speaker 1:

So, um, that being said, I think you know Zack Snyder's interpretation is one man's interpretation of what Superman should be. Um, you know, it's a subjective understanding to believe that one version is correct and one version is incorrect. However, if you want to look at the worldview of like, you know what Christopher Reeve's Superman was, what Superman. If you pick up a comic book today and look inside of what Superman like, if you look at an act, you look at action. Comments 10, 21,.

Speaker 1:

Is Superman going to look more like David Cornswet or more like Henry Cavill? He's going to look more like David Cornswet. He's going to act more like Christopher Reeve and David Cornswet. He's not going to act like Henry Cavill. And that's not to Henry Cavill's fault. No, no, not at all. That's a creator interpretation, the one that's more broad and the one that looks like it's the one that will last. And you know we saw it happen with Christopher Reeve how long that lasted, even after he stopped playing the character, how long it lasted, how long it influenced. That's the type of Superman that brings us into David Coren's sweat.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and then. So Wild man of Steel and Cavill is. You know there's clearly something going on, and so we once again. It's crazy how movie studios work, like when you timeline things like this so it's clear that movie studios work. We need timeline things like this so it's clear that the Cavill Superman is not working. So they turn back to the small screen and they integrate Superman into the Arrowverse.

Speaker 1:

Yes, so did you hear? Because, first of all, we love Tyler. Tyler Hoechlin is on the Project Infinite whiteboard. He's just incredible. I had the cape on for him, no pun. Just he's incredible. I've been I had the cape on for him, no pun intended since Teen Wolf. That's my guy. Um, again, another actor that got better at acting over the years as well too. I love. I love that too, when somebody just doesn't step in and they're like Anna Paquin, who can just act since they were a child, like somebody that actually has to get better at the craft as well too. I think that's always fun. Um, so tyler hecklin he talked about. He said he, I, he, I think he worked with greg berlanti before, yeah, and like. He called him and he said like hey, you want to play superman? He's like yeah, why not? Like he's like you might only play him for an episode or two, that's it, and then you're done. He's like shoot, why not?

Speaker 2:

who cares, I'll do it yeah, he kind of shows up as this, like almost like a cameo character, like hey, superman is showing up in this episode, um, but immediately. We've talked about this I don't know how many times now, immediately, just got it.

Speaker 1:

I understand Mr White from the first sentence he uttered.

Speaker 2:

You're like wait, wait a minute, hold, hold the phone, um, and he shows up in various things. You know, he does a couple of the crossovers and then the cw, green lights, superman and lois and we were like oh, um, we come under the understanding that it's going to be kind of superman like later on in life. Um got two twin boys, twin sons. It is not going to be related, connected to the Arrowverse at all, because the rest of the Arrowverse this show ends up outliving all the Arrowverse shows.

Speaker 1:

It's the best of what the Arrowverse was. It was Superman and Lois and he's just. He's incredible man, that first appearance in Supergirl, when he's like he's at the newspaper stand and he's on the phone with Perry White and he rips the shirt open. I'm like wait a minute, wait a second.

Speaker 2:

And he, just again in the same vein that Christopher Reeve, feels like he embodied the character. He embodies the character. The duality is super impressive. Um, the, what he's able to do, what superman is, across the four seasons of that show is just nothing short of remarkable it's incredible.

Speaker 1:

It's incredible. I, I love, I love his approach as well too. Like you said, he's a little bit older, so he's seen so many things, but still he's being challenged. He's being challenged on so many fronts and it's such, it's one of those approaches that you don't think like fatherhood, like that approach in of itself was such a challenge. Like you know, the most important part about superman and lois is superman and lois, it's their relationship. They take what dean kane had and they revolutionize it, essentially for this show.

Speaker 2:

I mean they run the. They borrow a little bit from all-star Superman with the yeah, with the angle of Lois having cancer. Yep, and Superman can't fight that, can't wrap his head around the fact that he the only thing he can do for her is be by her side.

Speaker 1:

He can't save her it says so much legwork for Clark Kent as well too, and like the humanity of which Clark Kent has and has adopted and I mean you know what they were doing in season four. Like I love the season one's approach because the budget was a little bit higher, the reveal was pretty cool with Morgan Edge being his half-brother. Like they, they do fun narrative stuff. They keep the hope alive of what Superman is as well too, and they kind of ground it a little bit like they're they're in Smallville, like they're in a small town and Superman, this broad figure, is just like a dad in the Midwest just trying to raise his family.

Speaker 2:

And that comes all the way around to the final season where he's forced to out himself to the world Right, which I mean how many stories tackle that Right, when Superman identity is outed to the?

Speaker 1:

world Right and that can go so wrong, and somehow they got it right.

Speaker 2:

No, they crushed it. And then obviously, the finale we talked about where like this is like Superman, this is your life, Essentially like like his he. The whole final episode is a meditation on Superman dying Right and it's unbelievable. Like like that. That couldn't have gone better, like it's one of the best finales of a superhero anything ever. It's so good the way he just kind of narrates and walks through the final years of his life.

Speaker 1:

I'm just like yeah, it's all right. Yeah, all right. Guys, tyler hecklin as superman is such a great example of like, really truthfully embodying and adopting, you know, the ideologies of what superman are, but making them your own as well too. And again, it's the father angle, it's he. What he was in super, in supergirl, was like he was supposed to be, like the figure, that was so. And again, I think they're going to take this approach for the, for the supergirl movie like he's the figure, like he's the one, like. I'm watching the scene of like when he shows up at the DOD and like all the agents are like and he's like how are you?

Speaker 2:

How are you today?

Speaker 1:

That's Superman, like that's exactly what he would do. And then Superman and Lois just takes that and, like world, it adds an extra dynamic which makes him, you know, even more super, which is awesome. So, um, then we transitioned into the, the, the next iteration of Superman, um, james Gunn, you know, teamed with David Cornswet, you know saying those two things together feel as synonymous, as, like Richard Donner and Christopher Reeve, like it's James Gunn's Superman, like you don't really get that a lot, like I hear a lot of people say Richard Donner's Superman. You know, sam Raimi's Spider-Man, like this is James Gunn's Superman, which is awesome. So I think, james, one thing I really appreciated was like James Gunn's truthfulness, like he said I didn't have a way in they.

Speaker 1:

One thing I really appreciated was like James Gunn's truthfulness, like he said I didn't have a way in. They asked me before. They asked me when I was doing the suicide squad and I said no, like I, I don't have a way into Superman. I don't have an, I don't have an in and I'm not going to get in. We've seen it in his career how, when he has an into the characters, how incredible they don't have like room for mental capacity for like I'm not. Why would I? I don't have like a, I don't have like an, like a. I don't really want to take on a character that I don't believe like I can truthfully tackle, because I don't know them right. And he said one day he's like I got it, like I'll take it, I got it um, which led him to not only be the director and writer of superman, but be the ceo of dc studios with david sa, david Safran or he's the sole CEO, or it's him and David Safran, right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Or Peter Safran.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, it's like a co-thing Right, co-owned Right, but he's like the creative head, essentially.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, safran's the business part and James is the creative part. I think he's cognizant that this movie needs to make money, and a lot of that at it. Hopefully this movie debuts. You know, 160 plus million that's a tall order, but you're the week after 4th of July. This could be the perfect summer blockbuster as well too, so I think they really got it. I mean, david Cornswet, you want to again, you want to talk about a guy that looks like Superman, and what I think david corn's, what really understands is like he seems like a good person, like he seems like a genuinely like good human being.

Speaker 1:

I mean, he grew up in philadelphia. Um, him, much as christopher reeve is classic is their their theater trained first, their theater actors first? Um, and he, I love his for himself, I love his truthfulness. He said if I never get another role like I'm prepared for this to be, you know, not on even like a good half, but on a bad half, this could be my last role that I ever play. So I'm grateful to even step into the shoes. Um, you see him with the kids on set. Yeah, um, complaints about, you know, zach schneider.

Speaker 1:

Superman was like we never really like he did save people, but like he only saved people, like, if this makes sense in, like the ultimate of ultimate distress, like and one of my favorite scenes out of henry henry cavill's whole run is in batman versus superman, the, the. Should there be a superman sequence? Like I was like more, more of that, like more of him actually, like it was a moral quandary that you know that kind of rose out of it, but like what I'm seeing out of david corinth's what is like he's just saving people to save people. To save people. There's no, you know, obviously they're dealing with the moral backdrop on top of it and in the new superman movie as well too. Um, but I think the more important height of it is like he's just saving people. I don't want to talk to the president of a nation I don't want to talk to, I just want to save people because it's the right thing to do.

Speaker 1:

Um, he has emotion. Yeah, I didn't think I'd ever see that out of a superman like you know what that reminded me of. That reminds me of smallville superman like he has actual human emotions and wants and needs. It seems like so I was. That that made me very, very happy to see Um. You know I love that piece where he's just like you know. He says he's just like you know people were going to die, so I went and saved them, like there's no if and or, but this is what I do.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I mean, obviously we don't have a, we don't have a full movie to to kind of absorb his Superman yet, um, but or his superman yet, um, but everything we've seen so far leads me to believe that he's gonna be pretty, pretty iconic, um, yeah, especially right and I mean it's the fact that, like he, it looks like he's gonna appeal to like broad audiences, like there's no dark and gritty batmans waiting in the whims, just like no, that's just a good, hopeful superman.

Speaker 1:

And like james gunn I don't know if you saw the cbs sunday morning interview that they did that this past sunday was incredible because he said james gunn basically said, like you know, over anything that that happens, over anything that's gonna like I want it to be like it's. He said it's kind of radical in today's day and age to be good like that's the radical half of it. So I want a super Superman. That is just good, for goodness sake. In the one clip he said what the hey dude Like he doesn't say, like he's not saying, like you know something like what the hell he's saying, what the hey dude Like that's Superman, like that's truthfully the goodness of his nature and I think David Cornswet is really embodying it Like I don't know if you ever seen that clip from the Politician like before and people. And he said, like people used to come up to me and be like you look like Superman. He's like well, you're going to be. This is going to be a crazy thing to learn in a second, but he's got it.

Speaker 1:

Rachel Brosnan as Lois Lane is probably one of the most again, one of the most excited I've been for a casting casting, um, and this one, though my most the my favorite casting, I think, is probably Nicholas Holt as Lex Luthor. I think that's such an inspired choice and it came, you know, um, much like um, who am I thinking of? That ended up oh, much like Tom Hiddleston, who was supposed to. You know who'd auditioned for Thor. Like no, we want to keep you. And then, like you know, we want to see what we can do with you on a prolonged scale. So I think nicholas holt is such an incredible pick as well, too, to play lex luther. So the three of them are going to stay along for a while, um, and then rounding out the rest of the dcu as well too.

Speaker 1:

Like you know, this is a universe where superheroes have been around for 300 years, but, like you know, superman coming onto the scene is the most important one that there had been, and they're going to play on that as well too. So I hope they take their time. Obviously, we're going to get a Batman movie, hopefully in some years, whether that be, you know, robert Pattinson or not, I'm, I'm all for it. We're going to get a Wonder Woman movie he was talking about. Like I understand that's the Trinity, like I need to get them fast track, but gets to do his James Gunn horror monster universe thing, which I think is so cool. So I love how creative James is, but I also love how he understands, like, the importance of what they're about to do.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah for sure. So I mean we can, we'll revisit this, obviously after we see the movie. And then, just just honorable mention to the, the, I would say the trio of Superman voice actors yes, Yep, Um Tim Daly, who played him in the Superman animated series, Um, the iconic um, George Newbern, who played him in justice league unlimited, um, as well as injustice and all so I I'll all sorts of things. And Jack Quaid, obviously he plays it my adventures as Superman.

Speaker 2:

Um, so he plays in my adventures, my adventures as Superman. Um, you know, for a long time the Tim Daly and George Newbern version of Superman were the kind of the tethered that we had the Superman um, in the nineties, in the early two thousands especially.

Speaker 2:

Um, yeah, so I mean it's a. It's a long, long history with this character. Um, and you know, not a lot of in terms of how long the character's been around, how long, how long the character's been around live action. It's kind of a kind of a mixed bag of of success. Yeah, um, you know, for every christopher reeve there's, there's a, you know there's a brandon ralph, etc. Etc. Um, you know, for every Tom Welling, there's Henry Cavill, you know, who was great but obviously was just marred by just unfortunate circumstances and studio not being able to do the thing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think, much like Spider-Man, we've never got a bad Superman actor. Like we've never got a bad Superman, which is, you know, very, very thankful because Batman can't say the same thing. You know what I mean. Like the batman, you know, lineage can't say this exact same thing for the role I'm not saying the actor themselves, but for the role itself. So, um, to be that lucky to get some great actors like that as well, too, is awesome yeah, so I mean henry cavill is is your favorite, obviously I mean it's.

Speaker 1:

It's tough. I'll say that now, and I don't want't want to dip into the realm of recency bias, but Henry Cavill is literally the Superman that I had. That's my Superman.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah, I mean it's tough. I mean there's aspects of all of them that I really enjoy. I know who you're going to say. Yeah, I mean, I think I've really come into appreciating the Tyler Hoechlin iteration of Superman.

Speaker 1:

He's so good.

Speaker 2:

It's the first you know I've seen the Reeve movies and they're great and he's Christopher Reeve, obviously. I think Christopher Reeve deserves like recognition as, like a one of one, like you, can have your favorites, but he's objectively the best.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

For now.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we'll see, I mean I just that's kind of how I feel about it, like we can all have our favorites, but like there's one that you kind of got to. You know, tip the cap too. Yeah, so I mean Christopher Reeve, like he may not be my favorite, but I can also recognize that he's Superman. But no, he's, he's Superman. Um, but no, I, the Tyler Hoechlin iteration made me feel a way about Superman that I'd really never had before, right, um, so I mean, that's that's going to be the one you know, that kind of holds a special place for me. Um, but there's so many like I, I I didn't get swept up in the Smallville thing the way a lot of other people did.

Speaker 2:

I was too young for it too. Yeah, I mean I was. You know, I was 14, 15, like. I was right, I was right there um you were kind of the target audience yeah.

Speaker 2:

So I mean I was right. I just I don't know, I just never really viewed it in the same way, like I kind of came into that stuff really late so I never had the reverence for Smallville that so many other people have. That's why I kind of lean towards Tyler Hoechlin, because fully formed, like being into this stuff now, like that's kind of like my, that's who I feel most strongly about, like as Superman. So I mean that's it, that's Superman. The history and heritage of Superman, and we'll be seeing James Gunn's iteration in a little more than a week. So that's what we're going to be talking about next week is going to be Superman crazy so that's it for us this week.

Speaker 2:

You can follow us on Twitter at ProjectNF underscore pod. You can follow us on Facebook. You can follow us on TikTok and YouTube at the Project Infinite podcast. You can follow us on Twitter at ProjectNF underscore pod. You can follow us on Facebook. You can follow us on TikTok and YouTube at the Project Infinite podcast. You can follow us on Instagram At the Project Infinite pod. Um Ironheart thoughts real quick.

Speaker 1:

Pretty Three episodes in. I'm getting the same feel that I got when I was watching Agatha all along. I'm like you guys should have paid more attention to this, to the show also. Shame on Marvel for not promoting this more and not having more trust in themselves. Like the lead-up to this, I didn't even know what day this show was coming out. Like, this is a major Marvel production, I had no idea which day. That's a problem.

Speaker 2:

That is a big problem yeah, yeah, no, I, I liked it.

Speaker 1:

I'm having the first three episodes.

Speaker 2:

I'm having some fun. Um, I think dominic thorne is dynamic. Um, there's this really interesting narrative surrounding, like the use of ai to compensate grief that I was completely blindsided by um in these first three episodes in regards to her best friend, natalie, who she turns into an AI accidentally, essentially, and she's using that as like a coping mechanism for her grief and I'm just like wait a minute, hold on. So I think she's really good Looking forward to these last three episodes and seeing what they have in store. I think Anthony Ramos is good as the hood. We haven't seen enough of him like wrestling with that darkness, right that you kind of see at the end of the third episode where it really feels like he's gonna lean in, like that's what he leaned into more my fear is that this show villain wise is gonna play like how miss marvel did, where the villain is such a second ship to like what the true narrative of the show is.

Speaker 1:

That's. My only fear for him is that they're not going to play him up enough, um, and then that character is going to be killed and dumped out and then the hood is just going to go like the physical hood is going to go elsewhere. Um, I do think this show probably to save the fact that this show should have came out in 2022 or early 2023, right after Black Panther is that they're going to eat a, have a big cameo in the show or be Mephisto is going to show off. Those are probably the last two pieces of the show, but Dominique Thorne is incredible. She's great as Riri Williams.

Speaker 1:

Um, I love how unapologetic she is as well, too. I love her kind of arc. It's very, very interesting. Like she. It's funny because people are forgetting where Tony Stark came from, like Like his whole thing was also money. It was also money. It was also fame. It was also like he wasn't humbled. Yet she's about to be humbled, and Natalie and that character is doing such a great job of grounding her a little bit and understanding like the moral, like wrongs and rights. I think that's such an interesting take on that character as well, too, and like how she's like I need to be tony stark because I need, I need money to be tony stark. No, you need what you have already to be tony stark.

Speaker 2:

You already have it and you don't need to be tony stark. You need to be riri williams. Yeah, and then looking forward to the alden einreich character, like coming into his own as obadiah's son I really appreciated that.

Speaker 1:

the first line out of his mouth it's like I've been doing. It's not like I will have revenge for my. He's like no, my father is the worst and I'm don't want to be anything like him, but unfortunately, you know, he's slipping into ways that he doesn't even realize that he is so yeah.

Speaker 2:

I really enjoy it. I think your point is is well taken that they should have, they should be prouder of this show I think, yeah, then they appear to be right. That's like, yeah, they kind of like dumped it onto disney plus and they were like, hey, ryan coogler's involved in this yeah, and it's funny, after sinners came out, they were like ryan coogler did this thing and you do feel a lot of his thumbprint on this. This show looks in it.

Speaker 1:

This is probably one of the best looking things out of the the multiverse saga as well, too. Like this show physically looks so good, the cgi looks yeah, it's top tier stylized. Yeah, you can tell he he did.

Speaker 2:

He did a little bit more than just slap his name on. It does feel like he you know he definitely was involved in some creative capacity behind the way things look, behind the feel of it. It does feel very adjacent to Black Panther in that respect, which I think is really really cool too.

Speaker 1:

So I'm really hoping that they stick the landing. That's what I'm nervous about, especially, like I said, with the villain with the hood. I think Anthony Ramos deserves a little bit more, and my fear too, too, is, if this rumor about Sacha Baron Cohen playing Mephisto is right, that immediately just takes Parker Robinson and who cares? Who cares that he was ever in the show, and then Anthony Ramos unfortunately never again can be in a Marvel thing if he gets killed or he's just done after that, and that's a waste of Anthony Ramos as well.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, ironheart thoughts pretty good so far. Looking forward to the back half of the season, but yeah, next week is going to be all Superman all the time we're going to review it and, depending on when we record, it might just have to be a full.

Speaker 2:

Either a full non-spoiler review, because we're going to be seeing a little bit early, or it'll be pretty non-spoiler, and then a heavy warning spoiler section is probably how we're going to do it, just to you know, so we don't jump on people who haven't seen it. But yeah, that's going to do it for us this week. I've said all the socials, um, from me, from the, from the, from the Henry Cavill of the podcast. I don't know how I feel about that. I mean, it's, it's, it's coming, it's coming for you. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I don't know what that even means.

Speaker 2:

I don't know Was that?

Speaker 1:

a threat, it's a it's?

Speaker 2:

I don't know what that even means. I don't know. Was that a threat? Who knows who's to say it's a mystery much like Henry Cavill's career as Superman.

Speaker 1:

I hope he comes back as Superman at some point. I think James Gunn would bring him into a multiverse capacity.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, that's a whole other thing. It's a multiverse. There's always a multiverse. It's been miss after miss, um the cavalry, the cavalry, um. Alright guys, we'll see you next week for Superman. Until then, goodbye peace.

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