DC Talk (My Adventures with Superman & Crisis On Infinite Earths Pt. 3 Review)

   Man, remember when Superman liked being Superman? Crazy. There’s a lot going on with DC movies and shows recently even if it seems like a quiet year. I just finished season two and I loved it. I also finished Crisis on Infinite Earths Part 3 from the Tomorrowverse and, controversially, I liked it. But it did have me thinking about the future DC and the James Gunn of it all. So let’s get into it.

  Let me start by gushing about My Adventures with Superman. (Actually before I start, hi it’s me. Future Editing Jason. Just wanted to say I’m gonna be popping in throughout the video to add stuff I either forgot to say or, since these videos take me awhile to edit due to a poor work life balance, stuff I think is relevant that has happened since filming. It’s like a bad version of Pop Up Video. Fuck I’m old.) If you haven’t even it, MAWS is a anime inspired take on Superman currently on Max. Season one shows the sweet origin of Clark Kent becoming Superman and falling for fellow rookie reporter Louis Lane. If you’re familiar with Superman at all, it’s nothing completely new. And yet, the hopeful vibes and bright visuals were just what I needed in dark times. That plus some small twists to the lore were enough to really make me fall in love with this show over the course of the first season and season two only leaned into those things more. 

  Writing a review for something like this is always hard because there’s not much else to say except that it’s really good. (The same goes for Batman The Caped Crusader, which I have watched since filming this. Maybe I should make a whole video on it but the gist of my review would be that it’s great. The shows creators really display just how well they understand the Batman characters by bending and changing them just enough while still keeping the core of the character intact. I should just make that video, fuck) It sometimes gets a little too corny and sacrhine for me but that’s less a dig at the show and more because I’m a bitter old man. This kind of Superman story is exactly the kind I want to see. One where he saves the day not just with his fist, although the fight scenes are fantastic, but by just being a good dude. He solves problems heart first. His tragedy in this show is while he wants to be human, he knows he’s not and is scared not just of what he might have come from but not being accepted by those he loves, which is as human as it gets. 

  In this second season specifically, while I didn’t love the characterization of Brianiac, I did love the idea of him being a rogue AI built to wage war and when his creators started to not desire to wage war anymore, he destroyed them. It’s a good thing we aren’t arming AI powered robots. That’d be dumb. (Deep sigh) Tha choice also leads to having a brainwashed Supergirl be a villain, a twist I thought worked really well. Can’t wait to see more of her in the future, if there are more coming, which we will get into in a second. 

  Overall it just feel nice to have a light hearted time watching Superman be a light to humanity, chill with his friends, and navigate normal human stuff just with superhuman shenanigans thrown in to muck up the works. On the other end of that spectrum, I finished the third and final part of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the big finale of the animated continuity known as the Tomorrowverse. Let me tell you, folks on the internet absolutely hate the Tomorrowverse and I don’t get it. Is it perfect or as good as the animated universe that came before it? No. But that is a bit of an unfair comparison. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start by talking about this three parter first.

  Of the three parts of Crisis, this part comes a close second to the first, if that makes sense. Its flaws are flaws that I have with the whole of the Tomorrowverse so I’ll instead talk about the ending which I liked a lot. I don’t normally go for the big cosmic stuff in comics or comic movies. At a certain point it gets just too far out there to make sense to me usually losses the plot a bit. One second everyone is teaming up to save the multiverse and the next thing you know, Superman is blowing into a cosmic bugle or some shit. It’s just not for me. But this flick, eventually, made it pretty clear what happened. Constantine broke the one universe into a million by essentially killing baby space Hitler and the only way to fix it was to condense it back into one universe. After trying literally everything else (can you imagine being a normal person on one of these Earths? Just teleporting in and out of space and time every few months. And it seemed they were still going to work which is wild to me. I’m really never gonna get to retire if that’s how this place works.). I thought it was a really neat and tidy creative way to end a continuity. 

  But let’s talk about those flaws. Where this movie and the whole of the Tomorrowverse in general fell short for me wasn’t in the animation style, which grew on me after a movie or two. I think the main fatal flaw was a lack of focus on one character at a time. Starting in Man of Tomorrow, in which a Superman story is suddenly spread into a shared story with Martian Manhunter, all the way to Crisis which at times feels aimless as it floats between the perspective of Supergirl, Psycho Pirate and Constantine. (I get why they did this for this particular trilogy and overall liked the execution but I just wish it handed it off between movies a bit smoother) Every movie in the Tomorrowverse save one, The Long Halloween, is about multiple characters. Green Lantern has Adam Strange, Supergirl has The Legion in the future, Warworld is basically three short films. It never really goes deep enough. The reason I love the DCAU was because hey spent seven years telling stories that built up a deep love of each character. In the end, this rush to the end of the multiverse may not even be the filmmakers fault. 

  There are ten movies spread over just four years for the Tomorrowverse. That breakneck pace I can’t help but feel comes from the incoming change in leadership. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to see what James Gunn does with DC and all signs point to me loving his Superman for all the reasons I loved MAWS. But it definitely feels like the Tomorrowverse had a tight wrap up to make room for the all new, completely connected DC universe and it suffered for it. (I am excited for Creature Commandos though. I just wish it was an animated movie instead of a show.) Now, if I could talk to James Gunn, I’d only hope to remind him (or tell him if he doesn’t already know) that the animated teams behind these movies have been churning out good to great animated movies for 20+ years all while the live action movies, let’s call it like it is, sucked ass. In fact, they were sometimes so good that it made it even more frustrating that their live action counterparts were so bad. It seemed to me so obvious that you should be able to just tell the stories in the way the animated universe was doing it just with real people. It’s right there! So I hope Mr. Gunn is talking to these creatives and is keeping them around to make more movies. Hell, give them a promotion and let them write a live action movie. (Same goes for comic book writers. Seems a no brainer to bring in the people who write for these characters for years to do a movie. Which I think James Gunn is doing with Tom King but, well, Tom King is a whole other can of worms.) They deserve it for carrying DC stories through some dark times. 

  But I’m just some nerd who loves these characters (probably a little too much since I cried at the end of MAWS) and just desperately for the world to see them in all their glory. But what did you think? Am I wrong about the Tomorrowverse? Are you excited for what’s next from DC? Let me know about it below and I’ll see you next time. And as always, death to the algorithm.

Deadpool & Wolverine & Doom

   Hey Bub. Have you seen Deadpool and Wolverine yet? Well, it made almost a quarter billion dollars in four days, so if not, you’re the only one. Yes, Ryan Reynolds is back with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine to pull off a magic trick and “save the MCU” just in time for Kevin Feige to announce RDJ is coming back but as Doctor Doom? Directed by the Russo brothers? Wait. What’s happening? Let’s talk about it.

  Let’s start with the good stuff. The third installment of anything is hard to pull off, especially in comedy. By the third time seeing a magic trick, you’re usually over it and asking, what else you got? (Not to contradict myself but there is literally something called the Rule of Threes in comedy. So maybe this point will be more salient when the enviable Deadpool 4 comes out) Yet, D&W mostly pulls it off. By all logic, Deadpool should be a character too shallow to maintain a franchise but Ryan Reynolds has found a way to elevate the crass, dick and balls humor do the turn of the century teen boy comedy into genuinely funny rapid satire. Reynolds has somehow evolved from Van Wilder to the Puck of the MCU.

  I think there are two aspects to D&W and the Deadpool movies as a whole that keep the magic alive and they may seem contradictory at first glance. Basically, the folks that made this movie do two things right, they don’t take things too seriously and the that Deadpool very seriously. 

  For the Merc with the Mouth, everyone and everything are a target for ridicule. The MCU and franchise film making in general need you to believe that each movie, show and connected installment is just as important as the last so you won’t skip a single one. But for Deadpool, nothing is sacred. So his movie has no problem pointing at the slumping box office numbers elephant in the room. At the same time, while it treats IP films as comedic foder, it serves as a send off of previous iterations of Marvel movies and realizes that while these films aren’t sacred, they are special to people. The pre-MCU movies worked their way through shitty movie execs, bad sets, early CGI and host of other problems to lay the foundation that the MCU would build its empire on. Hell, Kevin Fiege got his start working on some of those movies. 

  When it comes to what I didn’t like about the flick, there’s really not much. Some of the jokes are a little inside baseball but hey, I play this baseball. So it worked for me. (Another thing I didn’t like that has come up in the aftermath of this movie, and this relates to the rest of the video, is that after all the cameos went over so well, there are rumors galore of bringing actors back to play these characters again. I just wish execs could let things die and move on. Wesley Snipes was already Blade and the whole fucking joke was that Channing Tatum didn’t get to make that Gambit movie. Move on! I fell like I’m talking to an ex.) For a brief shining moment, it seemed like the MCU was back to taking chances and having fun. I’m sure you’ve seen the memes. But that new found faith was shaken once Hall H came around. 

  I want to preface this by saying, I love RDJ. I think he’s a great actor and could absolutely crush playing Dr. Doom. That is, he could if he hadn’t already played Iron Man for 10+ years. I know what some of you are saying, “In the comics Iron Man becomes Doom.” But that is a subversion of an already established Doom. A twist on a familiar character. Doom has yet to have that solid foundation in the MCU so it feels less like a twist and more like a step back. A retreat in perceived safety. D&W works because, while it’s a warm familiar vibe for Deadpool, it’s a fresh exciting feeling for the MCU as a whole. Whereas bringing back RDJ and the Russos feels less like an exciting story opportunity and more the decision of a scared executive hoping to get more milk from that cash cow. 

  I’m sure whatever meddling exec that backed up that money truck to bring back the dream team isn’t thrilled with the lukewarm response but in the end, all that matters to them is the boxffice. From my perspective, I wish Marvel would take the Tom Holland route more seriously often. No offense to Mr. Holland but, I had never heard of him before Spider-Man and now he is Spider-Man. Find young unknowns sign them for a decade of movies and nurture their talent (and bank accounts) to serve the character. Make the MCU into an incubator for gifted youths *Xmen theme* so they can hone their craft on a large stage, like SNL or The Daily Show. (I spent way too long learning that riff on guitar just for that bit) But that takes investment and long term thinking. Not exactly what movie execs are known for. (Just see the recent rumors about the final Spiderverse film. Fucking suits.)

  But I guess only time will tell. I hope it works out because I like these dumb movies and want them to be good. But at the very least, if it is bad maybe Deadpool can make fun of it in ten years. Until next time, death to the algorithm.