Missy

What was the first classic comic book you fell in love with? Not one that was contemporary at the time and is now old, but one you discovered in back issue bins, flea markets, garage sales, and the like? Mine is World’s Finest Comics. The first issue I ever found was at an antique shop and it blew my mind. The detail, the oddness of it all, the smell of the paper. All of it made me a geek.

We did not deserve Christopher Eccleston as The Doctor. Over the last two nights I have watched Rose and The End of the World on HBO Max, and he brings so much life and energy, sorrow and dignity to the character. He's right up there with Tom Baker. Something I don't think I've ever realized about The End of the World is that The Doctor brought Rose to that moment in time for a reason. He subconsciously wanted Rose to witness the destruction of her planet so they would have that shared pain. He was trying to bond with her. And that's not me retconning this. It's in the episode. At the very end of The End of the World, The Doctor reveals Gallifrey also burnt. Recently, at that. It's all right there, yet I've never seen it. Beautiful stuff.

On some level I could see that, but there was so much emphasis put on Thor lifting Mjolnir (RE: the rainy nighttime sequence) that it felt so wrong to not have him triumphantly grab the hammer and pull it from the stone. It's an easy fix too. (Please pardon the armchair screenwriter here.) The Destroyer backhands Thor, sending him flying hundreds of feet. Thor slams into the dirt. Silent. Near dead. Slowly, Thor begins to lift himself to his knees, but he's too weak. He falls face-first to ground. After another silent moment, Thor lifts himself once more, his hand landing on a stone protrusion for support. His hand moves higher up the stone, revealing the head of Mjolnir. His hand moves higher still to the handle. Thor grips the handle for support. Not to lift the hammer, but rather himself. Thor does not realize what he's touching. Thor is not trying to become a god, he's trying to fight an unbeatable machine as a mortal man. This act of humanity, ironically, is his final step to becoming The God of Thunder Thor was always destined to become. Mjolnir comes lose from the stone, but Thor -- now standing -- still does not realize what's in his hand. He does not realize what he's accomplished. Suddenly, a flash of lighting strikes the mortal Thor. He's lost in a cloud of dust and debris. When it settles, The Mighty Thor stand reborn as The God of Thunder.

Wow! Great find! According to this page, it's Benoit. After doing a little more digging, it looks like it was a mini-comic. Here's an excerpt from an interview with editor Ruben Diaz: Where did the idea of a Marvel vs WCW cross-over come from? What was your role in this project? Ruben Diaz: As the editor, I commissioned it and was part of the pitch to WCW. I worked on the pitch for the WCW/MARVEL crossover somewhere between 1998-2000. The most we got out of it was producing a mini-comic for a toy license of theirs. S.L.A.M. Force, I think. Bill Roseman wrote it and Michael Ryan did the art. The premise had the WCW characters at the time as agents fighting supernatural threats. It served somewhat as a proof of concept that never went anywhere either. We had other spec scripts to show how we’d handle the characters, with one that involved Chris Benoit meeting up with Wolverine. A few artists drew pin-ups and a sample of sequential art that I recall you may have uncovered. Adam Pollina did Hulk vs. Hulk. JJ Kirby did a sick pin-up of Goldberg. Oscar Jimenez did a spectacular Sting in a cemetery.

This is the poll I've waited on the longest. Initially I was going to vote for Thor as the better-made movie. But I cannot do that for two reasons: The movie is nothing but unnecessary Dutch angles. (Rewatch it, there are potentially more Dutch angles here than in Battlefield Earth.) Thor never lifts Mjolnir. The first can maybe be forgiven, as it was early days in the MCU and Kenneth Branagh was trying to bring excitement to a relatively unknown, potentially unrelatable character. The second, however, is a major flaw in the development of Thor. Not only does he not get to prove himself worthy by finally lifting that which was taken from him, it's also heavily implied the sleeping / dying Odin is the one who whisks the hammer to his son. This means Thor never completes his journey / trial; Odin simply gives him a pass because The Destroyer (which is fucking awesome) nearly kills his only biological son. That has bugged me to high heaven since seeing Thor in the cinema. We invest 90 minutes into Thor trying to prove himself worthy of his powers, home, godhood, and throne, and it's simply handed to him in the end because his father is sad. It cuts the knees out of everything we've watched up to that point. I'm not saying Infinity War is perfect, but it hits more emotional beats, does an excellent job bringing the universe together (eg Thor meets The Guardians of the Galaxy; Doctor Strange and Tony finally meet; Hulk cannot beat Thanos; etc.), and is simply more exciting.

I love this one!

The reason I think that's never bothered me is because that scene shows there are burgeoning superheroes out there, and the results of the forthcoming "civil war" will potentially ruin their lives forever. Using Spider-Man as that every-man in Civil War works thematically for me.

For the sake of this, I should have rewatched Iron Man 3, but it's never filled me with a desire to see it more than the one time I have. Whereas Guardians of the Galaxy is a masterclass in taking a universe we already know and injecting it with the freshest vision since "Star Spangled Man." James Gunn fully understand each and every one of the Guardians and gives the actors room to breathe in the roles. And that soundtrack. *chef's kiss*

Age of Ultron is vastly underrated. From the opening slow-mo team shot that's pure Kirby to the party, from Clint giving Wanda a no nonsense pep talk to everything to do with Vision, it's a fun Avengers movie. However. It is highly cynical. Making sure The Avengers are seen saving everyone is a direct middle finger to The Man of Steel (which is a better film), and I have always felt that Quicksilver was killed in AOU because Marvel knew they could not top the Quicksilver scene in Days of Future Past. Those elements do bring it down for me. All that said, AOU cannot even begin to touch Black Panther. It's saying something not about superheroes, but about what it means to have one's culture stolen from him time and time and time again. It's brilliant.

This is really tough, but I feel Civil War wins were. It not only continues themes that were setup earlier in the MCU (Tony and Steve's animosity), it also continues plots begun in Age of Ultron, and sets up so many threads for the next batch of films. The Avengers is so damn fun and is a great culmination of the Phase 1, but CW just feels grander and more serious.

And go!

And go!

And go!

And go!

Similar boat here. Somehow I am months behind on podcasts and YouTube series, despite working from home for three-plus months and, now, only being back in the office twice a week. Not sure how this worked out.

Now that Episode 1100 is live -- in which Ian, Chris, and Donovan Flickchat Forumed all 23 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- we can finally announce that our next tournament will be deciding which movie the forums believe to be the best film in the MCU! With 23 movies, there were two options on how the tournament would play out: Nine movies receive byes to the Quarterfinals One movie receives a bye, but the semifinals on both sides of the bracket are triple-threats The second is the option I went with. One film getting a bye is fine. Nine, however, takes the fun out of the entire first round. Speaking of the first round, it will be split across three groups, with each poll being open for three days each. Polls will open and close at or around noon on the selected days. The brackets have already been selected via random draw, and they are: Round 1, Group 1: July 24-27 Avengers: Age of Ultron v Black Panther The Avengers v Captain America: Civil War Guardians of the Galaxy v Iron Man 3 Thor v Avengers: Infinity War Round 1, Group 2: July 27-30 Captain America: The Winter Solider v Spider-Man: Homecoming Thor: The Dark World v Ant-Man and The Wasp Doctor Strange v Captain America: The First Avenger Captain Marvel v Spider-Man: Far from Home Round 1, Group 3: July 30-August 3 Avengers: Endgame v The Incredible Hulk Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. v Ant-Man Iron Man 2 v Thor: Ragnarok Round 1 Note: By random draw, Iron Man won the bye to the Quarterfinals. Seems fitting, what with it having the honor of being the first movie in the MCU. Information about the Quarterfinals and Semifinals will come once those rounds are upon us, so please check this space. As for the voting process, we're looking for the best film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So please keep that in mind while voting. The best may not be one's favorite. Also, I would like this tournament to result in some hearty conversations. If you can, please consider explaining your votes in each round. If you have any questions, please drop them into this thread. And, let's not forget the brackets. Click for a larger image. UPDATE 1: Round 1, Group 1 has come to a close! To no one's surprise, Black Panther trounced Age of Ultron in a near-sweep. The Avengers just barely won out over Civil War. One vote decided that contest! Guardians of the Galaxy advanced past Iron Man 3 with nearly 80% of the vote. And with an 83-point lead, Infinity War proved to be mightier than Thor. Round 1, Group 2 is live with: Captain America: The Winter Solider v Spider-Man: Homecoming Thor: The Dark World v Ant-Man and The Wasp Doctor Strange v Captain America: The First Avenger Captain Marvel v Spider-Man: Far from Home UPDATE 2 Round 1, Group 2 is closed! Captain America: The Winter Solider handily beat Spider-Man: Homecoming with nearly 89% of the vote. Ant-Man and The Wasp laid waste to Thor: The Dark World. Captain America: The First Avenger gave us our first sweep. Bye bye, Doctor Strange! And what's this? Spider-Man: Far from Home beat Captain Marvel? Interesting! Round 1, Group 3 is now active: Avengers: Endgame v The Incredible Hulk Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. v Ant-Man Iron Man 2 v Thor: Ragnarok UPDATE 3 Round 1, Group 3 is closed. Avengers: Endgame proved to be stronger than The Incredible Hulk. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. squashed Ant-Man. Thor: Ragnarok ran over Iron Man 2 with ease. We're moving on to the quarterfinals! Round 2, Group 1 is live and will close August 6 at noon CST: Black Panther v The Avengers Captain America: The First Avenger v Spider-Man: Far from Home Avengers: Endgame v Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 UPDATE 4 Round 2, Group 1 is over! Black Panther walked over The Avengers. Captain America: The First Avenger sent Spider-Man: Far from Home packing. Avengers: Endgame said "I am Groot" to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Round 2, Group 2 has begun. It will close on August 9 at noon CST: Captain America: The Winter Soldier v Ant-Man and The Wasp Guardians of the Galaxy v Avengers: Infinity War Thor: Ragnarok v Iron Man UPDATE 5 Round 2, Group 2 has closed! Captain America: The Winter Soldier swatted away Ant-Man and The Wasp. Guardians of the Galaxy took down Avengers: Infinity War. And in our closest outing yet, Thor: Ragnarok beat Iron Man by two votes! It's time for part one of the semifinals! This three-way match-up will close August 13 at noon CST! Black Panther v Captain America: Winter Soldier v Avengers: Endgame UPDATE 6 We're halfway through the semifinals! To very little surprise, Captain America: Winter Soldier bested Black Panther and Avengers: Endgame. The penultimate poll is on hand, and will close August 15 at noon CST. Guardians of the Galaxy v Captain America: The First Avenger v Thor: Ragnarok UPDATE 7 The semifinals are over! Captain America: The First Avenger took down Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok. Meaning, the finals are set! Tomorrow we will begin to decide the greatest MCU movie, and it has come down to: Captain America: The Winter Soldier v Captain America: The First Avenger The poll will open at noon, and will close August 19 at noon CST. FINAL UPDATE And there we have it! Captain America: The Winter Soldier defeats Captain America: The First Avenger by one vote to become the Earth-2.net forums' choice as the greatest movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe! Thank you to Ian, Chris, and Donovan for the inspiration; thank you to everyone who voted; and thank you to everyone who added to the conversation. If you would like to keep the talk going, please use this thread to do so.

Already listened once, but I plan a second listen to better provide feedback. Regarding Black Panther, it was still in first-run theaters in Chicago a full year later. No joke, even though it was released to home media in May 2018, many theaters in this area were still showing it when Captain Marvel came around in March 2019. That's a full year-plus since its February 2018 release. No movie does that these days, so that speaks volumes about Black Panther.

It might be obvious, but Star Trek and Star Wars movies. HA! Or, you and Dave doing a FCF on TABHAL shows to date.

Ooh, interesting! I truly thought they both had deceased spouses.

FFFFFFF! That's just... how is that even... damn.

Ooh! That's in great condition too!

Though I've not seen Batwoman, this is a great move on the part of the production team and I am excited to see how she does.

Javicia Leslie is taking the lead on Batwoman. She'll play Ryan Wilder / Batwoman.

After 32 years with Dark Horse, the Alien and Predator line of comics are moving to Marvel. Apparently, though, there's no intention to set them within the Marvel Universe. I'm willing to bet this is the death knell for Dark Horse. After losing Star Wars, Buffy, and now these two franchises, what do they have left besides Hellboy?

Please check Update 8 (above).