Professor

It was kinda the philosophy they went with when they moved to Fox last year. Put the more established names on the new Fox show to drive numbers. At the same time, you let Paul Heyman (who was 'in charge' of RAW at the time) take up-and-coming, somewhat unknowns and slow build them into stars. Then ratings started to go down (because obviously they would), but it was reported that Vince was finally onboard with a long play this time. Then pandemic, ratings fall faster and Heyman is fired as guy in charge.

Had a random thought about the Disney/Mulan release. The focus has been on theatrical vs. streaming release, as well as 'the future of theaters'. But could this also be a turning point in streaming services as we know them? It was not conveyed clearly in the initial announcement was that the $30 is not just a 'digital rental', Mulan will be available as long as you have your Disney+ account. That lessens the shock of the $30 (not by much). However, Mulan normally would make its way to standard Disney+ at some point. Will that still be the case? I'd assume so, but would it take longer to be added? That I can see. And I can see a scenario in which Disney+ moves to a model in which theatrical releases would be double paywalled (or, all new releases would be a charge on top of the monthly service). Much in the same way you need ESPN+ to have the privilege of buying the UFC PPVs. (Not 100% apples to apples, but close enough). Or am I overthinking things?

Ha! Bad match-up.

Probably Guardians? I'll go with that.

Iron Man for me. Ragnarok never really stuck with me. Plus, I don't think it is the best Thor film.

Batman & Robin - It's nostalgic cheese at this point. The fact that I watched this on a second-hand VHS on a wooden console television doesn't hurt with those feelings. Two takeaways. First, not that I watch any George Clooney movies, but in my head he has always been grey. Odd not seeing it here. And secondly, if I imagine this movie as a sequel to Batman 66 then more things make sense. Arnold telling Adam West to chill seems right.

I haven't see Cap in forever (and only the once), so I don't know if I remember it all that well. And I've been kinda voting on 'immediate thought' and Far From Home didn't jump out as better. So, bad choice on my part, but I think I have to push.

Pretty much how'd put it. I went Endgame.

Black Panther is what I went with.

Mulan will be released on Disney+ on Sept 4th. For $29.99. I understand putting the movie out on streaming, as I can't see theaters being open/packed (well, I can't see them open at any rate) en masse for a normal release. And I even understand charging something extra, rather than just the normal monthly subscription rate. But $30 seems a bit much. My local theater is pretty much $5 all day, everyday. I'm not paying $30 to watch it (or anything really) in my living room.

I think my opinion of IM2 and Ragnarok might be closer than most, but still voting for Thor and it isn't that close.

Guardians 2. I might be alone in that I kinda like it better than the first. What I will say about Ant-Man is that I appreciate the low-stakes of the film. It think it was needed to tell a smaller story after going into space and trying to end all life on Earth. And like has been mentioned, this film works at all because of Rudd.

Endgame. I'm sitting here thinking about The Incredible Hulk and I seem to remember a fair amount about the movie. Which strikes me as odd as I can't have seen the movie more than twice, and probably not in close to a decade.

Don't apologize to Hammond. It isn't necessary.

One has Michael Pena. The other has Kat Dennings. Ant Man & The Wasp.

Winter Soldier. A fun spy time.

That.

Far From Home. It has the better moments for me. The Mysterio fight is great and Peter/Happy scenes do it for me.

So, I only had 'classic' comics. Local comic shop had annual quarter sales, so my mom would let me get a few because I watched the cartoons. As such, I was getting random issues of late 80s Marvel. Mainly Spider-Man & X-Men, plus annuals because bigger books were better value. But fall in love would be the first box I got at a yard sale. I still remember what was in the box: The 20 issues of Alpha Flight, a huge run of Marvel Tales, Uncanny X-Men early 200s, start of Web of Spider-Man. But the answer to the question is a 3-way tie between Spectacular Spider-Man, Marvel Team-Up & The New Mutants. Hard to separate because I got them at the same time (summer vacation was spent reading the box several times over), but clear on the why for each. - Spectacular Spider-Man was my first real monthly reading experience. Having a 75-ish issue complete run just blew my mind. For the first time I got to see the long term term story telling in action. Asides and sub plots building into the main stories. Still kinda my Spider-Man era. - Marvel Team-Up was my introduction to Marvel at large. Take my favorite hero (Spider-Man) and guide me thru Marvel. Deathlok, Moon Knight, Valkyrie, Starfox, Nomad? King Kull? Not exactly household names. But rather than read the 'boring' handbooks, I get see these characters in action. And Spider-Man. Still my all time favorite series. - New Mutants was relatable. My Spider-Man wasn't a teenager. He was already married by the time I got into comics. Heck, the clone saga was already over when I go into comics. And really, the issues where he was in high school were too of a different era. So as a kid, the New Mutants gave me that. They largely didn't know what they were doing and acted like children at times. That is always needed in comics. And Cannonball is still by favorite X-mutant.

I knew WCW had comics. I did not know WCW 2000 had comics. I question who is the 5th man? Sting, Nash, Hart & Goldberg are obvious. I have an idea, but not sure. What say you?

Go with Avengers. Its more fun.

I don't remember much of IM3. Kinda makes it simple. Guardians.

I'll add the scene of the Avengers fighting army of Ultrons as the camera circles around ending with IM/Thor/Vision triple energy blasting Ultron. That is exactly how I have always imagined big splash page battles playing out. But Black Panther.

I'm going with Infinity War. Not sure why, first thought won out.

I am nine days into no longer having a job where I can listen to podcasts all day. I guess I didn't really comprehend just how many podcasts I listened to in a week. It is impossible to keep up while I'm at home. Impossible. Since the beginning of April, my backlog has increased by over 100 episodes. Seemingly out of nowhere.