Superheroes!

[Buster's Uncle]

That would be easy to blow, using Jason as an anti-Robin whomever Dick is going as, but much good stuff is as likely, depending on whether the show's well-written. -It kinda sorta in no uncertain terms demands an anti-Robin angle, and I can't help finding it to give me hope; not a bad idea at all, if so, and nothing I'd have thought of, but good for a Titans arc.

-I wonder if they'll establish a continuity where they can follow he comics in having Jason have been a Titan himself for five minutes before he went nasty punk and died - they certainly brought in Tim long after my time that way, post-(comics version) Young Justice merger... More likely, they have Jason an ongoing Titan or rival loose-cannon hero or straight villain who used to be a Robin. Lotta decent ways to play it.

(I loved the bit Grant Morrison did [sister bought a collection] a few years ago, when Dick was filling in long-term as (very much his own kind of) Batman working with Damien as a Robin; lotta respect in the execution there for Dick's been doing hero his whole life and is a Master, no emphasis on he wasn't his dad/teacher and not as good, because he was good enough, and proved it to the nasty kid he was working with in a contentious buddy-cop relationship again and again. Whole life, a master of non-power heroics and detectiveing, and grown out the shadow of Batman he wrestled with so during Peak Teen Titans. Same guy. -And anyway, Jason turned up as Red Hood in a somewhat proper superhero costume setting up as a sort of anti-Batman, though thematically really an anti-Real-Robin-as-Batman. And I liked that Batrobin could generally take him -the original point of this aside- given any chance; stands to reason with Dick's hands-down advantage in training and experience. )

 

[EgonSpengler]

I'm enjoying Black Lightning. They're building a little family of superheroes, a la the Fantastic Four and The Incredibles, which I find kind of appealing. They killed a character I didn't expect, and brought back a character I didn't expect. It's hard to tell who the main villain is, as they keep revealing new layers and changing directions, but I don't find it frustrating in the Lucy-with-the-football kind of way.

I read somewhere that the writers' room for Agents of SHIELD is treating the upcoming season finale as if it were a series finale, and I find myself not very upset about that. I'm still attached to the characters, but this season hasn't exactly been gripping.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I'm enjoying Black Lightning. They're building a little family of superheroes, a la the Fantastic Four and The Incredibles, which I find kind of appealing. They killed a character I didn't expect, and brought back a character I didn't expect. It's hard to tell who the main villain is, as they keep revealing new layers and changing directions, but I don't find it frustrating in the Lucy-with-the-football kind of way.

I read somewhere that the writers' room for Agents of SHIELD is treating the upcoming season finale as if it were a series finale, and I find myself not very upset about that. I'm still attached to the characters, but this season hasn't exactly been gripping.

I pulled the plug on Agents of SHIELD myself around episode two this season. It was recording and filling up my DVR and I was just not getting around to watching them any more.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Yeah, I've been watching it out of habit. I don't blame anyone who's wandered away. I guess the good news is that, if the writers know the end is nigh, they can plan a proper ending to the series. The shows that get canceled abruptly often get screwed. The series finale of Castle was probably the worst I've seen in recent years, but I imagine there have been other duds. Of course many shows just vanish, and get no conclusion of any kind.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Having only found out there was a screen something Black Lighting seconds ago, I'd still say I should think they had a lot to work with, better than Luke Cage, (who's unrecognizable as the same guy as yellow-shirt sweet-Christmas Power Man these days -rightly so, and in the comics first, but they did still lose some Blaxploitation fun possibilities there). Jeff, at any rate, was always a bit of a surprising case of well-intentioned white comics professionals - and Trevor Von Eden, I know- NOT blowing it with tone-deafness. A solid character from the beginning -as a black hero and as a hero- and a lot to work with. Glad to hear he's getting his shot, and hoping against hope Tony Isabella is getting, or has received since I heard, checks with numbers on them - which causes me surprise the lawyers ever greenlighted a show...

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I'm contemplating a massive binge watch of I Zombie, which I've not seen any of. Is this a worthwhile pursuit?

 

[EgonSpengler]

I really like iZombie. It's one of those good "lightweight" shows, albeit one with occasional gore. Its humor works for me (one villain makes his HQ in a mortuary called Shady Plots, and there's a Blackwater-style 'private contractor' company named Fillmore-Graves). The premise requires Rose McGowan to do all manner of silly things, which inevitably leads to some over-acting and caricaturing. She's game, though, and I think she has a lot of charm. But I've been watching it one episode a week, as it aired. I don't know how it would hold up to a binge-watch. It's worth a shot, though.

 

[Cutlass]

I have liked Agents of Shield. But given my work schedule, it's on after my bedtime. So I haven't been seeing it. I kept meaning to get caught up, but didn't get around to that. Or a few other shows. And now it's too late, as ABC doesn't stream the whole season. So I won't be able to see it until it hits Netflix.

I saw 2 seasons of iZombie. It's a little fun, but not serious.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Interesting. I navigated away to find out about the Black Lightning rights issue, and Wikipedia let me down, but the show's producers are black and find the character as they came to him excellent and they proclaim to take the positive message stuff very seriously - and Tony Isabella loves the show and is happy with DC lately; so somebody has to have written him a nice check.

 

[Cutlass]

Spoiler Infinity War poster. :

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Well, it certainly would have been easier to say "With...everybody."

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Y'know, if they wanted to please me, the Soul Gem saga would have been better...

-The Beast and the Thing and Spidey were in that, too, and since the kitchen-sink cast anyway, they could make a heckuvalotta hay out of including all three...

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Strikes me as odd that Black Panther has blown up so big and yet seen so little discussion in this thread.

Christopher Priest has been railing and ranting -correctly, it appears, with internal logic tight- for years on his own website about the untapped potential of the African-American (and Latino, etc.) market for comics. If Marvel wasn't already making a highest priority of the very best Panther solo book humanly possible with a movie coming, if it hadn't and isn't even now with an impressive box office smash by MCU standards, they, to quote Priss in Blade Runner, have "been stupid and deserve to die."

Priest says, the first thing we do is get the Panther in barbershops...

 

[BenitoChavez]

Spoiler Infinity War poster. :

Yeah, but where is Hawkeye? Did he lose his avenging license? He hasn't been in any of the trailers and he isn't in the poster either. He certainly seems to be getting the shaft.

 

[Cutlass]

Yeah, but where is Hawkeye? Did he lose his avenging license? He hasn't been in any of the trailers and he isn't in the poster either. He certainly seems to be getting the shaft.

They said he retired in the earlier movie. And they were hinting at his retirement even before that.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Doesn't it follow naturally from the family man stuff they established?

Being a super-hero is not like being a policeman; the bad guys are going to find your wife and kids. Best to retire for their sakes, and pray no baddie ever has story reasons to build nasty cred by finding you anyway...

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I'd say that naming his son Pietro was a clear acknowledgement that he had gotten the message.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Oh. I've never seen that one. I take it they'd done Quicksilver in?

-Otherwise - Lord, Lord; why after him?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Oh. I've never seen that one. I take it they'd done Quicksilver in?

-Otherwise - Lord, Lord; why after him?

Spoiler :

Not wanting to be a spoiler, but yeah. There's a running gag through the film with Quicksilver saying "bet you didn't see that coming, old man," then his last words after saving Hawkeye and taking the bullets are "I didn't see that coming."

And by the way, Age of Ultron is definitely worth seeing.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Is Vision a hero from the comics, or was he invented for that film?