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Yeah, I think this version of Malcolm is just a businessman.

So are we sure that the CW doesn't have more Batman rights than we thought?  Tommy Elliot (Hush) appeared on the show, and they name-dropped the Riddler.  They've also said that Kate was worried that some of Batman's old villains would show up if they thought Batman was back - that might not happen because of the Batwoman reveal, but between what we've seen and what was teased in Elseworlds, I'm interested to see if they'll actually use Batman villains in this show.

I'm also curious how the world of Batwoman works in the comics.  Does she fight Batman's rogues gallery as well as her own?  Does Batman fight her rogues gallery?  Because, like with all the Marvel heroes in New York, it's crazy to me to have separate worlds in the same city.  They'd be crossing each other all the time.

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Yeah the name on the phone could be a different Bruce, I suppose.  Or the mast could've belonged to the Kate Kane of that world.

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But has that been consistent?  Sure, there's a handful of Earth 2 stuff that's backwards (Laurel, Adrian Chase, Malcolm Merlyn sorta, etc), but Barry's Earth 2 double wasn't a bad guy.  And while it could've any Hal, Bruce, and Diana, Barry did have those names on his phone.  And they were presumably who we think they were.

So Batman is potentially an anti-hero or villain, but Barry has him on speed-dial?

(I get that it's a throwaway cowl and a many-years-ago easter egg, but still smile )

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Hmmm, the Captain Marvel stuff is odd.  If you want to do that, I wouldn't think you'd waste a Tom Holland appearance.

The Doctor Strange rumor makes sense, though.  I thought they had chemistry in the little bit we saw them together, and I think combining those two worlds would be great.  And there's also the idea that Strange could undo the whole Peter's identity thing.

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Oh and I really enjoyed the Arrow and Flash episodes this week....but they're both sorta doing the exact same thing.  I think we're all sorta expecting Oliver to die and we're all expecting Barry to live...so I'm not sure why we need two stories of people coming to the realization that they're going to die with their friends begging them to try and change the future.

I did think the Arrow episode was fun...although I don't really see any reason why they're continuing with the future stuff.  Backdoor pilot all you want...bring the future characters into the crossover...but I spent most of the episode wanting to get back to Earth 2.

Also....did Oliver kill Earth-2 Batman?  And where was Earth-2 Robert Queen?

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I don't know a ton about employment law, but I do know that the company I work for restricts employees from going to work for competitors.  I suppose you could have a non-compete clause that's all encompassing of all competitors, but I think your assumption is correct - why would anyone sign such a document?  There's a decent chance people wouldn't read it, but someone would.  And it'd be contested in court, I'd imagine.

My question about the lenses is...why couldn't Lena just go on the market to buy them?  They're readily available.  I think they might've mentioned that she might have some sort of prototype version or an upgraded version, but Lena is smart enough to make whatever adjustments she'd need to make on the retail versions, I'd assume.

Re: Supergirl's costume.  Has she always wanted pants and just....never made them?  Was it in response to Red Daughter's claim that she runs around in a cheerleader skirt?  I understand the real-world reason why they put her in pants, but I don't understand the in-world reason.  She's never once complained about her costume.

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ireactions wrote:

Anyway. I look forward to seeing Dick Grayson's Aunt Harriet instead of Dick himself, the Puzzler instead of the Riddler, Marsha Queen of Diamonds instead of Catwoman, Egghead instead of R'as Al Ghul, Tweedledum and Tweedledee instead of the Joker and other D-list villains. Ultimately, it's not the stature of the characters but what the writers do with them -- however, it's pretty clear that the writers have been given the bottom of the barrel for now.

Man, if that's true, it's *ballsy* to keep Bruce so front and center in all the plot points.  It's kinda like Season 5 of Sliders focusing so much on saving Quinn (at first) even though they were fairly certain at that point that Jerry wasn't coming back.

If rights weren't an issue, I'd absolutely expect Bruce to show up sometime in the season 1 finale.  Even if they use Bruce like they used Clark in Season 1 of Supergirl, they'd eventually have to have Bruce show up (like, eventually, Clark had to show up).

But we'll see.  It's going to feel pretty lame if Kate's still waiting for Batman to finally come back in Season 5.

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What's weird is that I think Batman has the best rogues' gallery in comics, and I think many of them are great choices for a solo movie.  I actually think the Joker is probably the least compelling villain when it comes to his backstory.  The reason why there's only been one real attempt at telling his story is that he's a more interesting character when he's mysterious.

I think a Riddler story could be really good (although his name is silly so I think you'd need to come up with something else).  I think a story centering on Harvey Dent could be tragic and fascinating.  I think the obvious choice for "Solo Batman Villain Movie" is Mr. Freeze, but 1) that story has been done wonderfully by Bruce Timm and 2) I think Timm proved that most of these villains can have wonderful origin stories if you just take them seriously.

It's just funny because I'd be interested in a Poison Ivy movie or even a Bane movie.  The Joker one, while obviously the flashiest, is the one I'm least interested in.  And if I was going to see a Joker movie, I'd rather see the one about the Special Forces military investigator/interrogator who gets twisted by war and loss until he becomes the Heath Ledger Joker from the Dark Knight smile

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I saw Joker.

I really don't know what to say about it.  It's a disturbing movie just because it's so dingy and dirty and gross, and the movie can manipulate you in certain ways so that you're expecting things to turn around for Arthur.  And I had to keep telling myself that this is a bad guy, and he's not getting a "happy ending" (although, for him, it's a happy ending).

It reminds me of BoJack Horseman.  That's a show that's so dark that it has to be a cartoon with anthropomorphic animals.  If it was about Will Arnett as a failed child actor, it'd be too depressing to watch. 

I feel like Joker only works because it's a comic book character.  If it was just about a downtrodden white man getting revenge on people, I think it'd be destroyed because it's absolutely the wrong movie for this time.  But since it's technically a comic book movie, it gets a pass.

Although it is barely a comic book movie.  Arthur shows almost none of the trademark characteristics of the Joker.  He's neither all that smart or all that cunning, and his success is more built on luck than anything else.  I think Arthur is someone that Batman would take out in a matter of seconds.  And the other comic book characters (Thomas Wayne, in particular) isn't a version of that character that I recognize - although he's designed to be built as a sort of villain.

At the end of the day, I think it's worth seeing, but I don't think it's a movie I really have any interest in revisiting.

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I did hear that they're doing a Spider-Man story done in "real time" where he actually ages appropriately.

What's funny is that, while everyone loves Bruce as Batman, I think there's a really reasonable and organic timeline that allows Bruce to age and move on.  Bruce is Batman.  Bruce takes in Dick Grayson.  Dick becomes Robin.  Batman and Robin work together.  Dick grows out of Robin and becomes Nightwing.  Bruce takes in Jason Todd.  Jason becomes Robin.  Jason dies.  Bruce goes solo for a while.  Bruce meets Tim Drake and takes him in.  Tim becomes Robin.  Bruce eventually gets hurt or retires, and Dick becomes Batman.  Tim stays on as Robin and Bruce acts as a mentor.  Eventually, Dick retires.  Tim becomes Batman.  Eventually Tim retires and there is no Batman.  Bruce finds Terry McGinnis.  And so on and so on.

At that point, you can keep Bruce around with either something from the Lazarus Pits or as some sort of AI mentor/guide/helper.  I didn't think Bruce was as less compelling person on Batman Beyond because he was old.  It was just the next move for that character.

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Haha, what's the easiest way for me to purchase them? smile

I watched the premieres of Supergirl and Batwoman.  I'm confident that Informant would've continued to hate Supergirl, which continues to be the preachiest of the Arrowverse shows.  I thought the premiere was fine - I thought either show might reference Crisis in one way or another, but I guess Batwoman is technically a prequel?  I wonder how it will catch up to the present day.  I also wonder if the show will ever have Bruce show up.  Or whether or not there's a Dick Grayson or a Jason Todd or a Bat-Family of any kind.  Or Commissioner Gordon.  Or Alfred.

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Bitsie Tulloch posted on her instagram a picture of her and Tyler Hoechlin on the set of the old Smallville Kent farm.  No Erica Durance in the picture.

That seems to imply that there's a scene that they're in together, and maybe it's a scene with no Erica Durance Lois.  Does that mean there's a chance that Welling could be in more than one scene?  Maybe even have a legit part?  That'd be awesome.

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And Brandon Routh has been sharing pictures of his transformation back into Clark Kent.  Today, he posted a picture of him dressed up as Clark Kent in front of a sign that showed that Clark, in his universe, is Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Planet.

So, for Routh at least, his scenes as Superman won't be a cameo.  His was probably the least likely to be a cameo, but it's at least a positive sign that there might be more than just minor cameos for the other Supermen.

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Was Birds of Prey worth watching?  I've never seen anything other than the opening sequence with Batman and Joker.

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Yeah I'm still that way 99% of the time.  But if I'm having exactly no fun watching a show, I've found an ability to bail.

1,516

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That's probably my next TPB.  I had a lot of fun with that series (even though I know the book has quite a few differences)

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ireactions wrote:

If you didn't look forward to it, why did you watch it? I have to ask myself the same question about 13 REASONS WHY. My niece once noted that after every season of the show, I become oddly vindictive and vengeful.

I've only quit a show once.  House of Cards.  I got tired of following a terrible human being with no redeemable characters.  Following a bad guy is fine.  I watched the Sopranos and Breaking Bad.  But both of those shows had good guys that you could follow.  Frank always beat the good guys, and more often than not, their lives were ruined or ended.  For season 2, they tried to trick me and have him fight someone worse, and it bothered me too much so I hit the ejection button.  There was no enjoyment in watching.

So I hate-watch a lot of shows.  But I never really hate-watched Preacher - I just was like "oh there's an episode of Preacher that recorded" and I'd watch it when it was time to watch it.  But usually I'd enjoy it and then I'd be like "I'd watch another one of those"

It's kinda like Legends of Tomorrow.  I think it's my least favorite of the Arrowverse shows, but I enjoy it every time I watch it.

Transmodiar wrote:

Read the comic book.

I have the first TBP.  I've been meaning to read it for a long time.  I think I even started reading it.  Now's probably a good time to get back to it.

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The other day, the series finale of Preacher aired.  I watched the whole series, and I'm still not entirely sure how much I liked the show.  I'm pretty sure I never looked forward to it, but I'm also fairly certain I enjoyed the show far more times than I didn't.  I know the show could've been better and less meandery, but I'm also not 100% sure what I'd go back and change.  It's a show that didn't take itself seriously but sometimes didn't go far enough.  It's a show that knew what it was but never seemingly tried to be better.

It's a show I watched week to week for it's whole run, but I don't think I'll ever revisit it.  It's an odd show to think about, but I think I liked it.

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ireactions wrote:

I finally got around to watching FAR FROM HOME today. It's a fun movie. Tom Holland and Zendaya are cute together. And FAR FROM HOME completely entangles Peter Parker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe from exploring his successorship to Tony Stark to intertwining Happy Hogan into the Parker family and creating a cliffhanger that demands the involvement of Stark's company and the Avengers. So, I think it's for the best that Sony and Marvel came to an arrangement.

I don't think Spider-Man needs to exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Tom Holland's Spider-Man was made specifically to function as part of the Avengers and the narrative distance that allows Daredevil and Daisy Johnson to steer clear of the Marvel movies wouldn't work for a version of Peter Parker who's constantly being directed by Nick Fury.

I agree to a point.  Obviously the MCU Spider-Man idolizes Iron Man and the Avengers, and to have him no longer be able to reference them at all would be damaging.

But consider this.  Let's say a deal didn't get done and Spider-Man is on his own.  Well, based on the end of Far From Home, that's exactly the position Spider-Man is in.  On his own.  If Mysterio's plan worked, Spider-Man would be a fugitive.  So maybe he calls someone (off-screen and without referencing their name) and finds out that no one is able to help him.  It's too hot.  So he's on his own.  Fury can't help (maybe say "The Director").  The Avengers can't help (maybe say "The Team").  So he's on his own.

I guess the hardest part would be whether or not they could reference the events of Far From Home and Mysterio himself.  If so, they'd be good. If not, it'd be way more complicated.

But either way, I'm glad it worked out.

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Sony and Marvel have come to an agreement.  Spider-Man 3 (in the MCU) will come out July 16, 2021 with both Sony and Marvel producing.

I think it could've worked on it's own and we'll probably still get Venom in the MCU, but I'm glad he's back.

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Well this all goes back to my crazy rant where, in a "realistic" portrayal of Sliders (ha ha ha), no doubles would ever look alike.  It's absurd to me that it can be a version of Earth where there were vampires or the Americans lost the Revolutionary War or dinosaurs still existed and everyone in the history of both Quinn's parents' families met at the same time, had sex at the same time, and the same sperm fertilized the same egg in each of those realities.  The odds are that a lot of those relatives wouldn't have met (or existed) and if they did, they wouldn't have had sex, and if they did, the sex would've resulted in some other sperm and egg getting together and if there were doubles, they'd be fraternal.  And so the idea that the Jerry O'Connell Quinn sperm fertilized the Jerry O'Connell Quinn egg is preposterous at best smile

So my guess is that if you had 100 Supermans from 100 different realities, they'd all look different.

I've talked about rationalizing this in certain ways - maybe there are "neighborhoods" where the Sliders always existed in their current forms and that's where the Sliders tended to go.  Maybe the multiverse keeps things familiar for them.  Or maybe it's just fate at work - people are meant to be born and so no matter how different earths are, the same sperm always fertilizes the same egg.  I don't know - that's above my pay grade.

As for how Ray Palmer can look like Clark Kent and how Lois can look like Alura?  My guess is that there's a definite number of humanoid faces that can exist so if you have an infinite number of humanoid lifeforms, two are bound to look identical smile

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I think it could be cool.  I always liked Batman Beyond as a coda to the Timmverse.  I would've preferred to find out what happened to Dick Grayson (he was referenced quite a bit but never actually showed up), but it worked to follow up on a lot of thing (even the Justice League).

Since the flash-forwards were pretty dark (Star City literally fell), it might be nice to have the new show fix some of that so that Oliver's legacy isn't completely tarnished.  And it'd be cool to catch up on the next generation of Team Flash, whatever's become of the Legends, etc.  And with the inclusion of Batwoman, there's a decent chance we could get some form of Terry McGinnis which would be spectacular.

I know that's not really what we'd probably get week to week, but I'd love some form of Arrowverse Beyond, especially as a lot of parts of the Arrowverse start to ramp down.

Note - I say that while they're about to launch a new show and are planning another one - so it's not exactly ramping down.  I just wonder if Flash isn't too far from also closing up shop, and I don't know what kind of legs Legends has.  It seems to have the ability to go forever since the cast has almost 100% turned over and it still seems to be going strong.

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Oh I agree.  I think there's no reason to get some of these people unless you're going to have fun with it, and I'd prefer to get an "update" on the Smallville universe instead of just a cameo.  Heck, I'd prefer to see Tom Welling's Superman fighting alongside Stephen Amell's Oliver, but I'm happy to get whatever they want to give us.

I'm just speculating because I imagine "non-speaking cameo" fits right into whatever it sounds like the CW offered Michael Rosenbaum.  But he could be wrong or the agent could've told him wrong or whatever.

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If the Rosenbaum stuff is true....I don't get it.  Are they worried about spoilers?  Do they think if Rosenbaum got a script, he'd leak it on his podcast?  Because if that was their offer, I don't get it either.  You might be able to get someone like Tom Welling to do something for the love of the material, but I don't think that's the way you get Rosenbaum.

That said, maybe they're actually planning on doing a scene in the Smallville universe if they were actually going to have Lex show up.  The cameo theory doesn't make sense unless it's somehow a scene with Clark, Lois, and Lex in the same place at the same time.  Which, of course, they could make happen.  And it might make sense considering the pay and lack of script - since all he'd essentially get is "Clark, Lois, and Lex are arguing when they look up" so there wouldn't be any real reason to send him anything.

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Disney already does a Spider-Man cartoon (and has consistently done one, I believe).  Outside of What If?, which is animated for logistical reasons, I imagine...I don't know if there's a market for an in-canon Spider-Man MCU show, even if Tom Holland does it.

If I were Kevin Feige, I wouldn't go nuclear with Spider-Man.  I'd let them do their own thing, focus on the X-Men and the Fantastic Four as new playthings, and wait for Sony to implode again.

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TV Line also ran a prediction story the other day, and one of their predictions was that many of the people that have been announced (Kevin Conroy, Burt Ward, maybe even Routh etc) might just be cameos in some sort of montage.

So maybe the multiverse is collapsing and the red sky is appearing everywhere.  You'd get Kevin Conroy at the Batcomputer (maybe with the Batman Beyond suit in the background) looking up at a monitor.  You'd get a campy Burt Ward in a Robin suit looking up.  You'd get Shipp Barry looking up.  And maybe even Welling-Clark and Durance-Lois having a romantic moment when the sky turns red.

Just a fun "this is happening in other universes" type thing.  All the cameos could even be non-speaking.

It was just their theory, but it makes sense.

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Yeah I'm not sure his motivations.  Whether he's doing it because the CW found enough money to make it work.  Or if he was worn down by Guggenheim and Stephen Amell and anyone else who kept bothering him about it.  Or if he knew that he'd never hear the end of it if he didn't.

I'm hoping he just realized that he'd make millions of people, like myself, happy by giving it one more go.  And if that was his reason, I'm willing to write around however he wants.  Because I'll appreciate it for the gift it is smile

I'm reminded of how I felt when it was confirmed that Michael Rosenbaum was coming back for the finale of Smallville.  It didn't matter that he refused to shave his head again.  It was just nice to have one more Clark/Lex scene.

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YES!

I don't care if Tom looks his age, looks his weight, or looks nothing like Clark Kent.  The fact that he's coming back at all is a huge gift to the fans.  This is how it needs to be.

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Interesting.  I'm not the biggest fan of Abrams as a director, but I think he'd give fans what they're looking for.  I would probably rather bring Cavill back and do a Batman-less movie and make it a sequel and not a reboot.  Add in Shazam and maybe Green Lanterns.

But if they can recast Superman and Pattinson works, I'm sure Abrams can make a fun Justice League movie.

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I wonder if they'll release the scene, either in Venom 2 or in between to get people excited.

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From the brief amount I read on the subject, it just sounds like they don't really have much for Ray to do.  So instead of writing him and Nora in circles, they're just going to give them a happy ending.  If he enjoyed the experience, I"m sure he'd come back, and I think they'd find a cool way to involve him in a finale or something.

It's remarkable that Legends is successful at all.  For a show with such a thin connection to the rest of the Arrowverse, a seemingly-limited premise, and a revolving door of a cast, it's a miracle that the show is as fun, as creative, and as engaging as it is.

It's also pretty incredible that the Crisis on Infinite Earths will end with an episode of Legends, after they were left out of the crossover entirely last year.

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Brandon Routh is leaving Legends.  It's crazy that the show has had pretty big turnover from it's original cast (only Rory and Sara will be left), but it doesn't really feel like it.

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I feel like the solution to the Spider-Man issue is rather simple (but I usually do).  I'd give Disney the option to use Spidey for Avengers movies and Sony can make solo outings.  Sony can prove they can make good solo movies, and Marvel can use him for their big team-up movies.  I'd allow Sony to make references to the Avengers and the snap and his past adventures, but they could let Peter stand on his own and tell his own stories.  Sony would get 100% from these movies and then they'd get some percentage of the Avengers movies.  Even if they got something like the 5% that they gave Disney for Avengers movies, that'd still be a hundred million dollars potentially.

So it's a version of the deal they have for the Hulk if Universal wanted to make Hulk solo movies.

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Not really an *american* politics question, but regarding the Amazon Rainforest.

Does the UN have the authority to declare the Amazon Rainforest a protected area and, in essence, take control of it?  Brazil's president openly doesn't care about it, and it's fairly important to the entire planet.  It seems irresponsible of all of us to just let it stay in control of one country when it benefits everyone.

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People are going to get their way, eventually.  I don't know if it'll necessarily mean buying all of Sony to get Spider-Man back, but I think Disney will eventually see the value of buying Spider-Man back, even if it means paying some ungodly amount of money for him.  Sony has to have a price, and Disney will eventually have the money.

Again, I think this ended up being something that sorta works out for all parties.  As TF said, Disney/Marvel can lose one character because they're picking up a handful of them.  Phase Four was announced without a Spider-Man movie, and that wasn't the top story.  So while people love this version of Spider-Man, I don't think the MCU will suffer for it.

Sony keeps one of their biggest characters, and they can try again to build up a Spider-Man cinematic universe starting with Venom.  Whether they keep Holland or recast is anyone's guess, but I'd have to think a Maximum Carnage movie will do fairly well for Sony.  And I don't know if their Morbius movie is on track or not, but they can now put Spider-Man in any of their spin-off movies.  They can do a Sinister Six movie again.

They'll have to lower their expectations because the MCU Spider-Man movies had other draws (like Iron Man) to make them successful, but I would still think a solo Tom Holland film, MCU or not, would make a lot of money.

And, again, I don't think it's a hamper to the narrative on either end.

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I think that's fine.  Erica is probably one of the few Smallville actors who'd easily come back (since she's already been back smile )

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ireactions wrote:

I don't see that changing if Spider-Man remains the Tom Holland incarnation but with no further references to the Avengers, but I also don't really understand HOW this character could function without the Avengers because he was created specifically to be on their team unlike Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.

I agree that he was brought in with a desire and a "need" to be in the Avengers, but I think the end result of his arc (ending with Far From Home) was to show that he'd grown passed that.  That he's become his own hero who can handle things on his own.  I think he was humbled a bit by the events of Infinity War and Endgame, especially to the point where he was physically overwhelmed by Thanos' army, even with the "instant kill" mode on.

Enough has changed that, by Far From Home, he doesn't even want to respond when Nick Fury wants him.  I don't think he's done being Spider-Man because he's still patrolling the neighborhood up until his trip to Europe, but he's not interested in fighting another Avengers-level threat.  His confidence is back up by the end of the movie, and I think he's grown beyond a need to be in the Avengers.  I kinda see him like any of the other main Avengers - ready to accept the call if they need him but happy to be his own hero in the mean time.

So on the Spider-Man side, I think the solution is easy.  Peter's never going to get another call from the Avengers, and he's never going to be in a position where he thinks he needs help (like with the rest of the MCU heroes on their solo adventures).  The biggest hole to fill in his life is the fact that he's good friends with Happy Hogan and funded almost entirely by Stark.  I think there's a couple ways to fix this without outright saying it - I think they could simply write into the narrative something like:

NED - What do you mean you can't afford your rent?  Aren't you best friends with a billionaire?
PETER - I can't call him for everything.  I just want to make it on my own.

It's also possible to just swap out the money that Peter gets from being friends with Tony to money he gets from being friends with Harry or Norman Osborn.  Maybe Norman fills the mentor role of Tony, and they could walk around it without saying it (which is easily enough to do - just hire the Netflix Marvel series.  They were experts in dancing around continuity).

On the MCU side, I think it's even easier.  No one was really "friends" with Peter except for Tony.  There's absolutely no reason for Dr. Strange to need Peter's help, and I don't even know if Dr. Strange would consider asking for it.  There's a huge age gap between Peter and the rest of the Avengers, and I don't think any of them would reach out to him for help.  I don't think anyone dislikes Peter and they're happy to fight alongside him, but he's a kid.  Tony had no problem including Peter, but even that had a limit for him.  The rest wouldn't consider putting Peter in extra harm.

If they really want to stick it to Sony, they could say something like:

WAR MACHINE - We need all hands on deck.
SAM/CAP - What about the kid?
WAR MACHINE - Let him be a kid.  We need the rest of the hands on deck, though.

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Exactly - I would think, at some point, Clark wouldn't look 25 either.  Since Smallville could exists in our past, it could also exist in the Arrowverse's past.  And depending on how far back you want to put it, you could place Clark in that time period.  Whatever age a middle aged superpowered Kryptonian is.

And, again, if you put Clark in a time far in Smallville's future, you eliminate any future need for a crossover.  The Smallville universe went on, everyone lived full, happy lives, the comics exist, etc....but now they're all gone.  So no need to bother Michael Rosenbaum or Kristen Kruek or Justin Hartley or bother with the tragedies surrounding the show.

Tom Welling's Clark is the only one who still exists.

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Spider-Man allegedly out of the MCU.  Sony and Disney couldn't come to a deal.

First off, it's a bummer for the fans.  Tom Holland is great as Spider-Man, and I think his appearances have been amazing.  Two pretty great solo films and three other appearances.

Second, I understand that it's a business.  Sony wanted to keep the original deal (Disney gets 5%), and Disney wanted more.  Disney did all the work and wanted more of the profit.  Sony wanted to maintain the money role in their biggest property and didn't want to hand over about half their lunch money to the biggest kid on the block.  I understand.

Third, narratively, it's kinda in a clean place to make a break.  Far From Home essentially ends the Tony/Peter storyline that had been built since Peter first showed up in Civil War.  He's too young to be "friends" with any of the other Avengers, and without Tony, there's not as much of a reason for him to tag along.  The villain most connected to Stark is Mysterio and he's dead.  Even if he's not, his main problem is with Peter now, not Tony.  You could bring back Vulture without any connections to Stark or the Chitauri.

Of course, assuming Holland's contract isn't somehow connected to Marvel Studios (I don't think it is), it simply means that they'll move Holland over to the Venom universe.  They'll probably keep the "Peter is enemy #1" storyline from his movies and intersect him with the Carnage storyline from Venom.  They'll have a team-up movie and then do solo movies at Sony, I imagine.

It sucks, but I think it's probably the best for both studios.

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Yeah, I don't want to make Tom work out if he doesn't want to.  I don't want him to suffer for the Arrowverse.

What's great about this situation is that I think you can make it work however you want.  If Welling is the only one returning from the Smallville universe, you can say that Clark has been Superman for 200 years.  He's gotten over losing Lois and Jimmy and Perry and everyone because he understands that it's his burden to carry.  That he might look like he's in his 40s, but his Kryptonian genes keep him looking middle aged...but his metabolism is finally starting to slow down.  Despite that, he's still as fast and strong as he's ever been.

Or you can have Welling's Superman tell Hoechlin's Superman to watch out for the cheeseburgers.

It doesn't really matter to me.  If Superman can live for hundreds of years, maybe his early 20s-30s are simply the tween years for humans where everyone is skinny.  And that now that he's (whatever age you want him to be), he just doesn't look like a Greek God anymore.  Which is fine.

People saw Christopher Reeve in a wheelchair, and they still saw him as Superman.  Tom can bald and gain weight all he want, and I'll still see him as Clark Kent.

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I don't know what their plan is for Kingdom Come Superman, but if they had him be an older Superman, they could probably have him be an older Superman who's appropriately aged and "widened"

Maybe as he ages, his Kryptonian metabolism slows down.  Maybe Clark's more of a cerebral hero and less of a "fly/run off to save everyone" kind of person.  You could even have him gain weight as the result of some sort of mental manipulation.  They had a heavy Thor in "Endgame" and a fatter/clumsier older Spider-Man in "Into the Spiderverse"  Maybe they could find a way to make that work.

If I were writing it, I'd make it work for Welling like Welling made it work for Rosenbaum in the series finale.  If Tom doesn't want to work out or look 25, that's fine.  We'll write around it.  Even if that means making his role a cameo or filming him in darkness or whatever.  But if they're going to do Crisis on Infinite Earths, I think Welling needs to be involved.  And while it'd be great to have him involved as (insert character), I think he needs to be Clark Kent.

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I thought Aquaman was a lot of fun.  I don't want to compare it to the Snyder films, but it's hard not to.  While I feel like Snyder wanted to punch us in the gut with the idea that "this is what superheroes would be like in the REAL WORLD", I don't think James Wan felt the need to do this.  I was listening to a commentary on the movie, and they started laughing at how INSANE some of the stuff in this movie is.  It feels very DC Comics, but it doesn't feel like the Snyder universe at all.

I think Momoa is great, and I think the sandbox they play in is fun.  I think the villains make sense, and I think Arthur grows in realistic ways.  The movie drags on a bit, but I think watching it over an afternoon or two is worth your time.

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ireactions wrote:

Did Wayne Manor ever expand its set beyond the living room? The living room reminded me of Lex's office in SMALLVILLE; he ate there, worked out there, had his medical examinations there, held every meeting there, sat around with Clark there -- I honestly think he may have even slept there and that his bedroom was a corner of the Luthor mansion's office set with a bed shoved against the wall.

My memory of this is a struggle, but I don't remember a single scene set in Wayne Manor that isn't in that same room.  I think sometimes they'd film in the other direction so *everything* wouldn't be in front of the fireplace, but that might've been their best shot at that.  I also remember a Court of Owls boardroom (?) set and a Cobblepot mansion, and they might've just redressed the Wayne set.

What was up with recasting Poison Ivy? What was up with recasting her AGAIN? Did that make sense to you? And was there ever any rationale for why Pamela Isley was given the name "Ivy Pepper" in the first season?

I think the Ivy character is the most bizarre one of the series, and it had the oddest sense of course-correction when the rest of the show just went crazy in a more natural way.  I haven't read any behind the scenes things, but my guess is that someone on the show (or, more likely, someone at FOX) wanted a "sexy" character and that required Ivy to be aged up.  Maybe they didn't go far enough the first time and decided to course-correct?

The craziest thing is that I remember the pre-pilot advertising making a big deal about Ivy.  She's in the Pilot in a major capacity.  But for much of the first season, Ivy is nowhere to be seen.  Even when she's aged up, she's never a regular.  Even when they finally got a sexy, adult Ivy, they never really used her outside of an episode here or there.

Why they used the name Ivy?  My thought is that the plan was probably to do a slower burn with her character, and since they probably planned on multiple seasons before she actually turned into Poison Ivy, they wanted "non-comics" fans to know who she was going to become.  Everyone knows Bruce and Gordon.  Edward always told riddles at the beginning so it was obvious who he was.  Oswald is called Penguin from the beginning.  My guess is it was a shorthand since there wasn't much of a way to tell the audience who she'd be.

What was up with recasting Selina Kyle for the series finale? Did that make sense to you?

It was weird because she was the only one recast.  Every other character was played by the same actor.  The time-jump wasn't huge, and there's ways to make a 19-year-old actress look 24.  I thought the new actress was fine, but it was a bit silly to me to take away the role from Camren Bicondova.  Especially since she had gained quite the fanbase.

Did Batman as played by David Mamouz work for you in the finale?

The way they used him was kinda bizarre too.  He's filmed mostly in shadow, and the only good look you get at him is sorta awkward CGI.  I thought there'd be more of him, but he's essentially used as a cameo. It was cool to see him in costume, but it's very Smallville in the way they finally use him.

Did you feel compelled to watch PENNYWORTH and is that anything to do with GOTHAM?

I haven't considered it, really.  I thought Sean Pertwee was great as Alfred, and I think I'd watch a show where he was the lead.  Like with Krypton, I don't think watching a show about a superhero's father or grandfather to be all that interesting.  Building up to a few easter eggs doesn't really excite me.

If they did a Gotham spin-off with the Gotham actors (and bring back Camren Bicondova), I'd watch that for sure.

Were there any spin-off media tie in materials that you didn't consider canon?


Probably.  I was thinking maybe I'd read Gotham comics, but I probably would've said the same thing about the Smallville season 11 comics and I didn't read those.  Are they available on TPB?

Were their any mythology-legacy oriented cameos that you liked or didn't like (in the way Teri Hatcher, Dean Cain, Sam Witwer and Helen Slater were on SUPERGIRL)?

I don't think I remember a single mythology-legacy cameo.  I don't think they had a single "prominent" actor show up in any sort of cameo.  The show made its own legacy, which is something I respected about it.  It was balls-to-the-walls crazy most weeks, but it owned it.  I don't think it ever betrayed itself, even when it decided to fully embrace fully wacky concepts.  Despite struggling with ratings, it never went for stunt casting.  I respect that now that I think about it.

Was there ever any difficulty handling the sexuality of the Poison Ivy and Catwoman characters given the extremely young age of the actors playing these extremely sexualized-in-comics roles?

I talked about this a bit with Ivy.  I think they wanted someone to be a bit of a sexpot, and that's why they aged Ivy.  Both times they did it, they made little jokes about how Ivy was now older than Bruce and Selina.  Ivy relished going to nightclubs and being an adult, and she definitely starts to manipulate men with her sexuality almost immediately.

But I guess the "sexy" characters were also filled with Gordon's various love interests.  Barbara Keane and Dr. Lee Thompkins went through various "sexy" stages, and there were characters like Sofia Falcone that also filled that role. 

Catwoman had a thing with Bruce, and she'd occasionally hang out in Barbara's nightclub.  And as she got older, she'd wear sexier outfits and dresses to the various Gotham fancy parties.  But I feel like they generally let her be a kid and even an older teenager without exploiting her as a sex symbol of any kind.

Were you happy with the origin of the Joker? What did you like? What didn't you like?

I don't like that they kept teasing it.  If they were going to do it, they needed to do it.  They kept saying that he wasn't the Joker, but Jerome Valeska kept being more and more the Joker.  To be fair to them, it was his twin brother Jeremiah that ended up *actually* becoming the Joker.

I thought Cameron Monaghan was wonderful in the role, and I think he did the best he could.  I think my biggest issue was that I thought the Joker should've been off-limits.  I didn't want a teenage Joker fighting a teenage Batman.  I wanted Batman and Joker to rise from the insanity of Gotham...not be born at the same time as everything else.

There was actually a really great scene where Jerome Valeska died for the first time, and he'd done this big wild display on Gotham-wide television.  And when he died, they showed a variety of random Gothamites acting like Jerome.  And I think the idea was that Jerome had sewn a seed into the soul of Gotham that would eventually lead to the Joker.  That the Joker was out there somewhere and we'd never know where he was.  I thought that was a great idea, and it made the whole Jerome story (at that time) feel like a great idea.

But like Sylar before him, Jerome and then Jeremiah kept coming back.  They'd die and be resurrected.  Or die and it's a fake out.  I kinda got tired of that.

They embraced him in the finale, and I thought it was pretty good.

Was there ever the SMALLVILLE sense of the characters experiencing every major event of the SUPERMAN/BATMAN mythos before they ever even became their costumed selves?

100%.  They did a bunch of Batman storylines  (the Court of Owls, No Man's Land, etc) and I think Bruce came in contact with just about every Batman villain that's ever been.  By season 3, it's essentially a Batman show without Batman.  By the end, it was a Batman show with Batman but he's just not in the suit.  By the finale, it was a Batman show with Batman in the suit but he's in the shadows.

I think the difference between Smallville and Gotham is that Gotham crammed Smallville's first 7 seasons into the first season and then played around with Smallville seasons 8-10 the rest of the series.  In other words, they realized they were a comic book show way earlier than Smallvilled did and fully embraced that for most of the run.

Were you happy with the show?

There were times when the show meandered, and I struggled at times with how fast or slow the show was moving.  But at the end of the day, Gotham was a lot of fun.  It was inconsistent, and I think I always wanted more from it than I was ever going to realistically get from a show with the budget it received....but I thought it was a fun little look into a world before Batman.

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I saw Aquaman.  I'll have more comments later, but one note quick:

I don't understand how the DCEU is structured, and it bothers me.  I understand that each movie sorta has its own free reign to do what it needs to do, but Aquaman doesn't even feel like the same universe as Justice League. 

I wondered, going in, what the connection would be.  And the answer is....there's one line.  They mention Steppenwolf and the idea that Aquaman is a known superhero.  So the movie happened and they're not simply ignoring it.

Except they sorta are.  There's only a couple of scenes from Justice League that relate to Aquaman, and both of them have wildly contradictory parts.  The air bubble thing is fine, I guess.  It doesn't make any sense for them to have to create air bubbles to talk, but they would've also known that for the scene in Justice League.  What bothers me more is....I don't even know how Arthur knew where to go.  No one seems bothered by him inside that room where they protect the box (even though he's hated by the masses and arrested for simply going into Atlantis), and there didn't seem to be any indication of why he went there.

The relationship between Mera and Arthur seems confusing when you look at both movies, but I think it's fine.  What's stranger is that Arthur seems angry at his mother in Justice League.  Maybe he's putting on some sort of act in front of the Atlantean ("I hated my mom because she was Atlantean" or something), but there's no indication of that in Aquaman.  He loves his mother and is mad at the ones responsible for killing her.

Being separate entities is fine.  Giving directors free reign to build characters is fine.  But that's how it is on the Arrowverse, but the crossover still has mostly-consistent characterization and continuity.

As someone who, believe it or not, really wants the DCEU to survive...I just find it weird that it feels so different.  I know they want to get away from the Snyder aesthetic, but I think contrasting a gloomy, dark surface world with a colorful, hopeful Atlantis might've done well.  I don't think they needed a Justice League cameo because Arthur's a bit of a loner who's completely separated from the rest of the heroes.

But maybe it's Bruce who gets Arthur the plane?  Or maybe make the tie-ins in Justice League better/more consistent to what Wan is doing?  Because if you told me that Zach Snyder didn't talk to James Wan, I'd believe you.

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ireactions wrote:

A better format might be a quarterly magazine or graphic novel released digitally and in a prestige print format that is the equivalent of the trade paperback collections.

I very-much agree with this.  Essentially the *only* comic books I buy are TBPs.  There was a brief period about 5-10 years ago where I subscribed to Batman comics, but I didn't love it as much as I thought I would.

TBPs show a full story so I know I have (most) of the full story.  I can read it at my leisure and it's usually easier to put up on a bookshelf than a dozen floppy 20-page issues.

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Ha, I like your tangents.  #VoteIreactionsTangents2020

Moderator's Note: Please see the Random Thoughts thread for ireactions' response

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The Marc Scott Zicree stuff is fascinating to read.  One because I wasn't sure who you were talking about (outside of knowing the name) and second because I knew *exactly* who you were talking about because I've been watching his commentary on Discovery and the Orville on YouTube a lot, recently.  I'll be fascinated to listen to his commentaries.

He seems like a really nice, genuine person who really enjoys science fiction and writing good stories when he's on YouTube.  It could be partially an act (he uses essentially every video as a way to sell his show Space Command - literally), but I couldn't say for sure.

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Agreed on Izel.  The issue I have is with (spoilers).  But it would've also been an issue for season 5.  When the Earth was destroyed, did all the Avengers die?  What happened with Thor and Captain Marvel and Hulk (who were all off world) in the decades that happened?

When SHIELD was fighting covert battles, I think they could easily explore their little section of the universe without tying in with the movies.  When they expand into situations where the Earth is in danger from something that the Avengers would have a) obvious visibility to and b) the ability to respond to, it makes it more complicated.

The Avengers wouldn't show up to fight Grant Ward or Izel.  But if the Earth is destroyed or invaded, the lack of superheroes becomes a problem.  That's all I'm saying.

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(Still spoilers)

Yeah, I enjoyed Season 6, and I think the writers did just about as well as they could considering the abuse they took from the movie department.  If the people who made Endgame can be trusted to know the secrets, then the people who made Agents of Shield should've been allowed to as well.

They made fun little references to Thanos in season 5 and whatever chaos they could imagine happening in New York, and I think it was fine.  With *literally nothing* to work off from Endgame, I think they did as much as they could with what they had to work with (nothing).  They wrote a fun story that was isolated to parts of space that haven't been dealt with and mostly isolated parts of Earth.  You're right - the people they interact with either wouldn't be in a position to constantly talk about the Snap/Blip or they're in enough danger that it isn't the focus.

The one mistake they made is to have another apocalypse-level event at the end of their season.  The season 6 finale primarily takes place in the Lighthouse and in some random jungle (I'm sure they said where - let's say South America).  Even if the Avengers knew about it, they wouldn't be able to get there in time.  So I think it was contained.

But with spaceships and colonization and invasion, it doesn't really fit.  It's nice for the team to have stakes and the Chronicom invasion certainly provides stakes.  But when they specifically say that they want to wipe out SHIELD as their primary enemy even though it seems to be common knowledge that Thanos is going to Earth.  So either he already decimated the planet or someone defeated him.  Plus, they know what Fitz and Gemma know (that there is a group of super-powered beings that protect the Earth).

I think the only mistake they made was not keeping the threats covert.  There's no reason for the Avengers to be involved in HIVE or HYDRA.  There's no reason for them to know about the Shrike or Izel.  These are SHIELD-level problems that can be written off as SHIELD's problem.

When the Earth is literally in danger, it's harder to write off the Avengers stuff.  For the most part, they did as great as they could.  It was only at the end that I started worrying about it.

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I finished Agents of Shield season 6.

Some spoilers (stop reading if you don't want to be spoiled), but I wonder if the show would've been better if they'd somehow transitioned the cast to a parallel universe.  I understand the behind-the-scenes issues forcing them to be completely in the dark about both the Snap/Blip and the resulting 5-year time jump, but it's oddly distracting to have such little connection between the show and the movies. 

The Snap/Blip was a universal event.  It's not something that would simply never be discussed, even if every character happened to escape it.  Even if they didn't, the galactic portions of the show would certainly be talking about it.  At least, on Earth, there were witnesses to what really happened.  In other parts of the galaxy, even ones that knew of Thanos, people would've just disappeared (and possibly reappeared) with no explanation.

Then there's the other side.  Whether it be the destruction of the Earth from Season 5 or the invasion of Earth from the end of season 6.  When the Lighthouse is attacked, the Chronicoms talk about getting rid of SHIELD as their primary foes.  No mention of any of the Avengers.  No mention of trying to take over the planet that either just experienced or just fought off an invasion of Thanos.

I know, for all intents and purposes, they already don't take place in the same universe.  But it's odd that we've had tons of connections throughout the life of the show, but now we're just supposed to pretend that none of that happened?

With all the technobabble on the show, I think they should've at least tried to give an explanation.  Gemma tried to get Fitz back and did a thing and now they're in a pocket dimension.  Or they moved across the multiverse.  Or something.

The events of Infinity War and Endgame were too big for SHIELD to ignore.  The happenings that happen on SHIELD are too big for the Avengers to ignore.  So I would've tried to put them on an Earth where there are no Avengers.  Or maybe they all left or all died.  SHIELD is all that's left.  It wouldn't even need to be a big scene.

MACK - "....what just happened?"

SIMMONS - "The Beta Device brought back Fitz.  But it also seems to have separated us from our known reality."

MACK - "English, please."

SIMMONS - "We are on Earth, but I don't think it's our Earth."

**************

PIPER - "We've scoured this Earth's internet, and you're never going to believe this."

MACK - "I already don't."

PIPER - "There's nothing about Tony Stark.  No Iron Man.  No Chitauri invasion.  No history of Steve Rogers or the supersoldier program.  Thor is simply a legend on this Earth.  As far as I can tell, there's no metahuman activity or any reference to any Avengers.  This world doesn't even know aliens exist."

MACK - "What about SHIELD?"

PIPER - "Nothing."

*************

MACK - "I know the last few days have been tough.  But even though FitzSimmons fixed the Beta device, we've decided to stay behind on this Earth.  We all saw what's been happening with those aliens and that mysterious guy that looks like Coulson.  I think we owe it to this place to help them stop it.  Our Earth has the Avengers.  This one doesn't.  It needs us.  It needs SHIELD."

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ireactions wrote:

I did have this joke I was going to make where you, Slider_Quinn21, were grousing about David Mamouz being too short to play Batman and I was going to ask why Batman brings out the worst in you: first your hatred for old people by raging about how Ben Affleck is too old to play the character, now your hatred for short people over Mamouz. But then your wife had that miscarriage and I felt I needed to take it easy on you and also, to say you have ever raged about anything is quite an overstatement.

Ha, don't let anything ever stop you from calling me out on anything smile  It's what makes this fun.

I like Batman a lot.  I think he was the gateway drug to my love of superheroes, and I just think that there's something poetic about a guy in a bat costume trying to keep up with a group of literal gods.  Batman's best superpower is unlimited wealth, and while it's sometimes significantly overblown, his true superpower is just his incredible brain.  I think there's something sorta beautiful about a guy who had some tragedy and decided to do everything in his power to stop it.

I also think there's room for different versions of the character.  I think it's sorta great that David Mamouz played Batman because I don't think there's necessarily any reason for Bruce to be 6'3 and ripped.  There's something kinda cool to the idea that he's sorta short and average build and could still kick ass.  I think my main gripe is that sticking with Mamouz sorta ruined my longstanding prediction (from season one) that they'd replace him with another actor when it was time for him to be Batman.  I was sorta right, but I'm glad they didn't do it.

As far as Affleck, I think he did as good a job as anyone could've.  My main problem with Batfleck were 1) (pre-BvS) that I wanted Superman to face a Batman in his prime and didn't want to hamstring Batman even more when he's already significantly outmatched and 2) (post BvS) didn't think that the movie gave enough explanation for why Batman was acting the way he was acting.  He can be an older version and work and he can be a grittier/darker version and work, but I felt like they needed to explain why he was acting the way he was acting.

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ireactions wrote:

I love Brandon Routh, but I don't know if I can wrap my head around him playing Superman when we have Tyler Hoechlin doing a great job.

Now I can't remember....was the John Wesley Shipp version of Flash that appeared in Elseworlds ever referred to as Barry Allen?  If so, it sorta opens up the doors for "fraternal doubles"  - which would open up the door for a Justin Hartley Oliver Queen or a Tom Welling Superman.

I also neglected to bring up the idea of a Alan Ritchson Aquaman showing up in Crisis.  Or my personal favorite, Kyle Gallner as Bart/Impulse.

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TemporalFlux wrote:

Well, the Kingdom Come Superman was used as a kind of stand-in for the original golden age Earth 2 Superman in the JSA comics; and the older Superman played a significant role in Crisis.  Routh, through his connection to the Christopher Reeve continuity, is probably the closest they can get to a golden age Superman at the moment.   Even Dean Cain beats out Welling as an older Superman.

Yeah, I get that.  My point is that the Arrowverse seems to imply that the TV shows are connected but that the movies aren't.  So having someone from Gotham show up might make sense - having someone from the Dark Knight universe might not.  And when you're talking about Superman on TV, yes Dean Cain would have him beat, but I think for the Arrowverse, Tom Welling makes so much sense.

Routh might make more sense in the end because you're going back to the beginning of the modern superhero genre (through Reeve).  But this just feels like something they wrote for Welling and he turned down.

EDIT:

Then there's this:

https://www.superherohype.com/comics/46 … -character

It's odd because I'm not sure exactly where they can go with this.  If you're talking about a cameo for the fans, I suppose anything would work, but what makes the most sense?  Obviously Welling would be the big one, finally getting him in costume.  The next would be Michael Rosenbaum's Lex, but as the article states, he's already debunked that (but has been known to have tricky negotiations).  Then what?  Would Kristen Kruek's Lana make sense?  Erica Durance's Lois?  Alison Mack is, for sure, out.  Justin Hartley *kinda* made a cameo, but he'd probably be one of the harder ones to get.  Aaron Ashmore's Jimmy? 

Then it starts to get more obscure?  Michael McKean as Perry White?  Annette O'Toole as Martha?  Big characters but maybe not relevant unless you're telling a "everyone in the Smallville universe is dead."

I'm assuming they're pushing for Welling or Rosenbaum.  Hartley would be cool but would almost certainly be a one-day shoot.  It'd be cool to see anyone from Smallville, but I wonder if the majority of that cast has simply moved on.

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There's a lot of movement on the Crisis front, but nothing on Tom Welling.  The most exciting one for me is the news that Kevin Conroy is going to appear as an older version of Bruce Wayne.  I don't know if he has the physicality to portray Bruce, even as someone who was Bruce a long time ago, but I love Kevin Conroy and love this idea.  Maybe they'll put him in a muscle suit or maybe it'll be an audio-only cameo.  Either way, linking up BTAS with the Arrowverse is just the coolest idea.

The one that has me a bit puzzled is Brandon Routh playing Superman.  The rumor is that he's going to be playing the Kingdom Come Superman, either as that actual version or just in the suit.  It's a cool idea and maybe the biggest idea that they're incorporating into the Arrowverse (because if it's even implied that he's reprising his role from Superman Returns, that would link the Arrowverse to the Christopher Reeve Superman which would easily be the biggest connection).

The reason for my puzzlement is that, with no announcement on Tom Welling, I feel like that part was written for Tom and he turned it down.  It feels like something that they'd do (an older Superman played by the godfather of the Arrowverse) and that Brandon was an equally-interesting and definitely-easier (but obviously second) choice.

If they do Crisis on Infinite Earths and don't make any allusion to the Smallville universe, I think you can essentially write off there ever being a direct connection.

(And to comment on your post, ireactions, if there's ever going to be a Dick Grayson on the CW, it needs to be Jared Padalecki or bust)

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Am I a bad person for wanting Natasha/Black Widow to stay dead after her solo movie?  I just would like her sacrifice in Endgame to mean something, and I like the idea that, for the most part, deaths in the MCU have stuck.  And I think they're probably going to try and resurrect the Vision in WandaVision (with potentially effects rolling into Dr. Strange 2 and beyond) so it'd be weird if they kept undoing the Phase 3 deaths.

(Because you know Tony's coming back in one form or another).

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I am interested in how both Voyager and Enterprise seemed to go out of their way to not take advantage of their distinguishing characteristics.  Voyager too-rarely focused on the fact that the ship was trying to get home - the fact that they're stranded in the Delta Quadrant comes up in dialogue but there's never really a sense that it's any more of a problem than the Enterprise was ever in on their weekly missions.  Enterprise, despite being set on a series a couple hundred years before Voyager, did a lot of the same things from the episodes I saw.

As many people have said many times before, committing to Voyager being stranded could've made Voyager a really unique and fascinating show.  All of the characteristics were there to be great - especially the idea at the beginning that Voyager was a technologically superior ship in the Delta Quadrant.  No one else had torpedoes or replicators.  So could Voyager withstand a long journey where they're the most powerful ship in the quadrant but unable to make major repairs or really replenish their weaponry?  It'd make great drama for Janeway to know that she could win any battle with a torpedo or two but knowing that she might need them more later.  Or to be in a situation where they probably need to stop and make repairs but knowing that they can't afford to stop.

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sliders5125 wrote:

ILL give Voyager credit in that it being self contained does help it repeat better than ds9

This is very true.  There's a channel that plays all five Trek series on certain nights (every night?) that I flip passed sometimes.  And I'll be honest, I'm more likely to stop when it's a Voyager or TNG episode than a DS9 one.  While the quality of the DS9 episode is almost certainly going to be higher, their storylines are much more complex.  And if I'm literally watching a random episode, I have to remember a handful of things to really enjoy what's going on?  Who's controlling the station?  Is this where Dukat is pretending to be Bajoran?  What's happening with the Dominion? 

With Voyager or TNG, it's just watching an hour of sci-fi fun.  And if I'm literally just looking for something to watch, I don't want to have to bring up Memory Alpha to remember exactly what's going on on DS9 smile

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(758 replies, posted in Sliders Bboard)

Voyager is the stepchild of the Trek franchise, and I've never really understood why.  I think the main reason is that it came on the heels (and during) Deep Space Nine.  While I'll defend Voyager, I don't think Voyager is in the same class as DS9.  But DS9 was doing things that very few TV shows at the time were willing to do.  It set the gold standard for Sci-Fi for a long time (probably even now), and it accomplished things that no Trek show did before or since.

I don't think it's fair to compare Voyager and DS9.  I also don't really think it's fair to compare DS9 to TNG, Enterprise, or TOS.  Fans saw what Trek could be in DS9, and when Voyager (and Enterprise) went back to the "story of the week" well with no sense of long-term story or continuity, people didn't like it.  But I think Voyager is of a similar-enough quality as TNG or TOS.  I think all three series have high points surrounded by a sea of episodes that are just okay.

The big difference between TNG and Voyager is that the highs are much higher when it comes to TNG.  Maybe the lows aren't quite as low as Voyager.  Voyager never had a moment like the end of part one of "Best of Both Worlds." TNG never had an episode quite as bad as something like "Threshold"

I think characters also come into it.  If you were to rank the characters, you'd get through most of TNG's core cast before you ever got to someone like Harry Kim or Chakotay.  Wesley Crusher might be the only character as poorly written as Voyager's worst, and even he has a complete arc for the series.  Riker is more compelling than anything Chakotay ever did.  LaForge is more interesting than Torres.  Geordi and Data are more fun than Tom and Harry.

I think the Doctor is more fun than Dr. Crusher, but Data is more interesting than the Doctor ever was.  Even having a trueblood Vulcan on the show wasn't all that interesting.

It sucks because I think the characters had potential.  There was no reason to make any of the characters on Voyager Maquis because the show never seemed to have any intention of playing that part out.  If they'd stuck with that, Chakotay could've been an interesting character.  Paris could've been interesting if they'd made him Nick Locarno or played up his criminal background.  Torres as a half-human, half-Klingon has a ton of interesting things they could work with.  Even Harry Kim as an ensign on his first-ever crew assignment had potential.

There were ideas there.  And every once in a while, they'd play up those ideas.  And I think Voyager came up with a handful of really great episodes.  Timeless, Year of Hell, Living Witness, and Scorpion can hold their own.

When it was bad, it was bad.  But I think the same happened with TNG.  The only difference is that, when an episode of TNG was bad, at least you got Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner.  When Voyager was bad, you just got Garrett Wang.

1,559

(758 replies, posted in Sliders Bboard)

Grizzlor wrote:

Seven was a terrible character, poorly written, but Jeri was dating a producer so you know how that goes.  I have to say, the one line in the trailer she had was actually GOOD.  I would love a non-Borgish Seven, who you would assume after 20 years almost would have figured out how to act more human.

Ugh, here I go again.

I don't think Seven was a terrible character or poorly written.  I also think that Jeri, while she might've been hired for, ahem, other reasons, is a very solid actress.  I've seen her in a number of things and don't think this is a Danielle Panabaker situation.

The problem with Seven wasn't so much that she was poorly written.  It was that the show, itself, wasn't very well written, and essentially every season that she was on was *very* Seven-heavy.

I think she's actually a pretty great character, following the great Trek tradition of trying to understand what it is to be human.  That archetype (previously used with Data and Spock) was probably supposed to be used on the Doctor (another character I really like), but obviously, they decided to go another way with that.  Seven is an interesting character because instead of searching for her humanity, she often runs from it.  I think she feels that her Borg side protects her, and she's afraid of her frail, human side.

If Seven was poorly written, it was because she ended up being the main character on a show that's supposed to be an ensemble.  She was Michael Burnham before Michael Burnham, and she was overexposed by writers that, for the most part, didn't know what they were doing.  But I think she's one of the best ideas for a character in Trek history.  And even considering the Voyager writing staff, I think she's one of the most interesting characters in Trek.

1,560

(3,573 replies, posted in Sliders Bboard)

Oh no, BATWOMAN IS A DISASTER???