ant-man_one_sheetMarvel Studios’s Ant-Man opened in the United States this weekend, marking the first Marvel movie in years where non-geeks said, “Who?”

So we decided to mark the occasion by bringing in comedians Tim McIntire and Benari Poulten (who guested on our Avengers: Age of Ultron episode), as well as comedian Ross Garmil, to talk about the movie. Spoiler alert: we liked it because of the characters, and in spite of the fact that Edgar Wright didn’t direct it, and that it had more holes than a Guadalupe Yambiter ant hill.

But being geeks, the conversation meandered a bit, to also include some Batman V Superman and Star Wars: The Force Awakens talk. With a few unexpected detours and interruptions. This is a wild one, but a fun one, kids…

And now, the disclaimers:

  • While we normally record this show live to tape, this week our guests called in remote from their homes, where two of them also store children. This means that we had to do more editing than usual, but nothing was added or moved.
  • This show contains spoilers. If you were hoping to learn that Ant-Man’s power involves ants at the theater, maybe save this episode for later.
  • This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. If you think your boss would be creeped out by Rob asking a child to check a video feed for possible infections, it means that your boss is a well-adjusted human being, and that you should listen with headphones.

Thanks for listening, suckers!

c2e2_logoWe’re a bit later than we originally intended, but proud to present the first part of our C2E2 2015 panel recaps. But these aren’t your normal panel rundowns; these are chock full of audio from the panels, including quotes direct from Dan Slott, Brian Azzarello, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Charles Soule, and a bunch of other creators!

We start by going through the Secret Wars: Last Days panel from Marvel, where the panel talks about the Last Days miniseries leading to Secret Wars for characters like Ms. Marvel, Black Widow, Silver Surfer, Punisher, Ant-Man and the Inhumans. While there’s not a lot in the way of revelations in this panel, there are one or two really interesting new tidbits… as well as the name a of supervillain that, by the end of the episode, will haunt your nightmares.

We then recap the New DC Universe panel, where the post-Convergence storylines of books including Harley Quinn, Starfire, Bizarro and Catwoman, as well as some details about the upcoming We Are Robin, are laid out. This was the panel where Dark Knight 3: The Master Race was made, and we have that audio (and our opinions) as well.

We plan to tape and release our recap episode about the Batman panel (where Scott Snyder talks openly about the Bat-Bunny) tomorrow or Friday, so stay tuned!

Thanks for listening, suckers!

all_winners_4_coverIt was a big week for Marvel’s Cinematic Universe this week, as the first two episodes of the limited series Agent Carter debuted on Tuesday. So we spend some time talking about that episode, its themes of sexism, how its mid-40s setting is a blessing and an opportunity, and how an obscure comic from 1942 might hold some secrets about the series.

Agent Carter also featured the debut of the first teaser trailer for Marvel’s Ant-Man movie. We’ve made no secret that we’re looking far less forward to this movie now that Edgar Wright is no longer directing, so we talk about whether this trailer changes our mind at all. Short answer: watch the trailer with no audio, and see if it doesn’t look like a prison flick with Paul Rudd as a convicted child predator and Michael Douglas as his lovesick warden.

We also discuss:

  • Ant-Man #1, written by Nick Spencer with art by Ramon Rosanas, and:
  • The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1, written by Ryan North with art by Erica Henderson!

And now the legalese:

  • We record this show live to tape. While this might mean a looser show than you are used to from most comics podcasts, it also means that anything can happen. Like the definition of “Cream of Swede.” It’s not what you think! It’s far more disgusting!
  • This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout warnings ahead of time, just assume that we will ruin everything you care about.
  • This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. I refer you again to the phrase “Cream of Swede.” You’re gonna want some headphones.

Enjoy the show, suckers!

tmp_ant-man_movie_logo871384253It has been a bloody couple of weeks following the announcement that Edgar Wright had walked away as director of Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man movie, with rumor after rumor of proposed replacement directors on the project. First it was Adam McKay of Anchorman, who announced he wasn’t gonna take the gig almost as soon as his name was floated to the press. Then there was Ruben Fleischer (who directed Zombieland) and Rawson Marshall Thurber (who directed We’re The Millers), but Thurber noped out of the job a couple days ago, while in the meantime Paul Rudd has presumably been at some undisclosed location, lifting weights and eating skinless chicken and steamed broccoli, and possibly wondering if he can use his new superhero physique to beat his fucking agent into oblivion.

But as of today, Marvel Studios’ (if not our) long national nightmare is over, because they have officially announced that Peyton Reed will be directing the movie. To which we, and I presume much of fandom in general, gave a loud and resounding… “who?”

guardians_of_the_galaxy_3_coverI was originally gonna write another story about the trials and tribulations of the Ant-Man movie since Edgar Wright has abdicated on directing the film, but there’s still nothing but rumors.

One of those rumors is that, since Rawson Thurber and Adam McKay have passed on the project, Marvel Studios has approached Nicholas Stoller and Michael Dowse to take over the movie. Dowse we can kinda get behind, since he directed Goon which was actually pretty funny and featured one of the guys who played Sabretooth, so there’s a least a glimmer of hope that he can handle a superhero flick. Stoller, the director of the recent Seth Rogan movie Neighbors,  is also attached to a superhero movie… unfortunately, it is as the writer of Captain Underpants. I have less hope for that choice.

Regardless, every day that goes by makes Ant-Man look more and more The Island of Misfit Career Choices, so I don’t want to spend a lot of time wondering who is gonna direct the movie when the more pertinent question is who the hell will want to watch it.

Instead, here is a new TV spot for a Marvel Studios movie where they made an unorthodox directorial choice, stuck with it, and wound up with a movie that looks better than the unknown source material would lead one to believe. That movie is Guardians of The Galaxy, directed by Slither and Super director James Gunn, and you can check the latest TV spot for that movie, featuring actual dialogue from Rocket Raccoon, after the jump.

Enjoy it, while Marvel Studios tries to find someone to direct a movie about a character that exactly two people care about: departed director Edgar Wright, and Stan Lee, who stands to make a million bucks if he can get just one more person to give a fuck about Hank Pym.

tmp_ant-man_movie_logo871384253It’s Sunday, so it’s time for another Crisis On Infinite Midlives Show! May God have mercy upon your soul!

It has been a big, weird week for Marvel, both the movie studio and the comic publisher, so we talk about:

  • Edgar Wright’s departure from the Ant-Man movie, who might be a good choice from the directors who have been named as probable replacements, and who would actually be a good replacement
  • The rumor (a rumor that is picking up some partial documentation and some steam) that Marvel might cancel Fantastic Four to spite Fox Studios efforts to promote the latest movie adaptation
  • The concept that Marvel and DC might just be intellectual property farms for movies and TV, the deleterious effect that that could have on comics, and what, if anything, comics fans can do about it (spoiler alert: not much)
  • Fantastic Four #5, written by James Robinson with art by Leonard Kirk
  • Trees #1, written by Warren Ellis with art by Jason Howard

And, the usual legalese:

  • This show was recorded live to tape, which means you might hear more weird pauses, aborted jokes, and jokes about abortion than you might hear on your normal podcast
  • This show contains spoilers. We try to warn ahead of time, but there is every chance you will hear the odd spoiler of a story point or nine. What can I say? We ruin stuff.
  • This show contains adult, explicit language, and is not safe for work. Invest in some headphones, even if they must be those awful Beats By Dre monstrosities.

Enjoy the show, suckers!

AMWell, as quickly as rumors that Anchorman‘s Adam McKay was to step in to direct Ant-Man, they have just as quickly been put to sleep. McKay is said to have made the decision alone and claims that it is because he is already committed to other projects.

Certainly, not because it has the stench of death upon it. Nope.

Meanwhile, this leaves Ruben Fleischer and Rawson Marshall Thurber in the running for the position. Fleischer is known for Zombieland…but, also, Gangster Squad. Thurber is known for Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story…but, also, We’re The Millers.

tmp_ant-man_movie_logo871384253It is Saturday of the American Memorial Day long weekend. This means that, in general, there is fuck-all going on in the way of genre news other than redundant tales of heavy drinking by comic creators (and comic bloggers), and Edgar Wright’s departure from Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man movie.

There’s a dearth of actual hard news about what actually happened to lead to the split. Latino Review has a story based on a bunch of anonymous sources saying it had to do with the script, but with no names attached, I’m just gonna link to it and let you draw your own conclusions.

Wright himself hasn’t said anything, and his Twitter feed has been silent… except for a re-Tweet of a wordless picture post Avengers and Avengers 2: Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon threw up earlier today, and which you can check out after the jump.

tmp_ant-man_movie_logo871384253Let’s face facts: nobody really gives a shit about Ant-Man. Despite being a founding member of The Avengers (And notice nobody at Marvel Studios bent over backwards to try and get him in the Avengers movie), the first thing Hank Pym ever did that anyone paid any attention to was tune up his wife in Avengers #213, and by then he was Yellowjacket, which was about his fourth ineffectual alter ego. And don’t even bring up Scott Lang and Eric O’Grady, who were each killed in separate team books to advance minor plot points.

Which is why it was a somewhat strange choice for Marvel Studios to go with the character as the first movie in their Phase Three of major motion pictures, but it didn’t matter. Because Marvel Studios had announced that Edgar Wright, the director of my favorite movie of 2013, The World’s End, was going to be directing the flick.

The key word in that sentence, however, is “was.” Because he ain’t gonna be doing it anymore.

tmp_ant-man_movie_logo871384253Okay, so we’ve known for a few weeks that Edgar Wright, who is directing the upcoming Marvel Studios version of Ant-Man, had cast Paul Rudd as, well, Ant-Man. But what we didn’t know what exactly which Ant-Man Rudd would be playing. After all, we’ve got the original Hank Pym (wife-beater with an inferiority and occasional persecution complex), we’ve got Scott Lang (sneak-thief with a daughter complex who died as a C-Lister so that Brian Michael Bendis could put Spider-Man on The Avengers), and Eric O’Grady (goofy, weaselly thief who uses the Ant-Man suit to get himself laid and eventually dies a self-sacrificing hero)… and given that Wright is a comedy director, O’Grady seemed like the most likely choice to me.

So yeah: turns out that years of reading and writing about comics doesn’t mean that I know a Goddamned thing. Because Marvel Studios has announced that Rudd will be playing Scott Lang.

And that Michael Douglas will be playing Hank Pym.

Wait, what?