James Gunn’s Next Movie: Is It Batman?

[00:00:00] Speaker A: What up, everybody? And welcome back to another episode of the Nursing Report. I'm your host, Pablo, and joining me, as always, is Mr. Brian Schultz. Brian, lots to talk about. A lot of people going crazy. Tracy sent me a video of the Den of Nerds or some. Some YouTuber that was going crazy about the Superman visualization. Whatever. [00:00:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:00:24] Speaker A: And just people overreacting. James Gunn had to come out and say some stuff. So we'll talk about that. And also the something that seems to happen often, but it keeps on rearing his head regardless, which is Superman being sued. [00:00:42] Speaker B: Yeah, the estate. The estate never goes away. [00:00:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:00:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:00:46] Speaker A: So we'll. We'll briefly talk about that. Mackie. Oh, controversial comments. And I had a conversation with Tracy about that. He said, yo, but the original cap said the same thing. Spider Man. I saw the first two episodes today. Okay, so we'll talk about that. X Men rumors. Yeah, the Russo's looking to come back and just stay there, which makes sense. I don't mind. I do not mind. If it were me, I'd be like, yo, I just want to do this. This is where my thing is. I'd rather just do this fall shoot, apparently, and some casting rumors. This is where it gets interesting. I don't know if we had talked about this quite some time ago about what. Who would be what, and, you know, in terms of casting our X Men, but I've. We've made mention of who. We probably may just. Just quickly just run some of them off in this one. But we'll talk about some of the casting rumors. Some other little notes. Chris Evans taking a page from Garfield. [00:01:56] Speaker B: Why? Why? [00:01:59] Speaker A: And it's like, yo, just don't say nothing. Just. Just pop something in your mouth when they ask you a question or something. Like, have. Have something ready, some Tic Tacs, whatever it is, and start chewing and just walk away. And she. Hulk. [00:02:12] Speaker B: That one we can talk about because that's pretty funny. That's like a little. Little tidbit there that I thought was humorous, shall we say? [00:02:20] Speaker A: Okay. Okay, let's start off with Superman. The visual effects. So again, people have been going crazy. [00:02:27] Speaker B: About this from the Icon TV spot, if you haven't seen it. Icon TV spot. [00:02:33] Speaker A: I understand people having or feeling a certain way about this. I have my theory. I have to say that. I have my theory. And if my theory is correct, James Gunn is a genius. He is. If he. If he does this because me understanding what people are going crazy over in terms of the eye and visual effects, whatever the case may be, I can Say, based on what James Gunn has said, what we are seeing is not, is there's not a lot of CGI here. Those aerial stunts or those. That's actual drone footage. And that's actually him not necessarily flying, but him being suspended and the background being put around him. That's all good. That I, I understand him looking a little bit, I don't know, not right. And I get that because Superman, in most people's eyes, he's perfect. Superman can't have no mo. He can't have no pimple. He can't have none of that. He's perfect. Right? Hence my theory. And again, if I am correct, I gotta give myself, who was it Bog Backman that used to do this. That in WrestleMania, in wrestling? And this is not nothing new because most people have said the possibility of this. Brian, what if that's Bizarro? [00:04:12] Speaker B: Oh. [00:04:16] Speaker A: What if that's Bizarro? And James Gunn not saying nothing about it. I think he's being cool about it. He's just letting people know that's not cgi, that's real. Right? And in the movie you realize, oh snap, that's Bizarro. That is beautiful. That is beautiful if that is the case, Brian. Because I know if you go to the movies and you see that, you're going to be like, oh, snap. You're going to laugh, you're going to chuckle, you're going to be like, wow, James Gunn. I suspect that being the case, your thoughts on this thing going crazy about his eye going off somewhere else. [00:04:54] Speaker B: Here's, here's my take on it. I think people are missing the forest through the trees. I get it. You want to study and scrutinize every shot. And especially after the Marvel VFX flap, people are on the lookout for everything that looks a little bit off. But here's the thing, number one. So I don't, I don't. I think your Bizarro theory is amazing. I, I don't know that that's the case. And I don't even know how I feel about Bizarro being in this movie. [00:05:21] Speaker A: It feels a little Ultraman in there. We got Ultraman in there. [00:05:24] Speaker B: I get it. [00:05:25] Speaker A: They go to. Where do they go to? They go to the Fortunes of Solitude. [00:05:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I get it. [00:05:29] Speaker A: Knows. [00:05:30] Speaker B: I get it. I get it. But here's the thing. Like what you're still seeing in trailers and TV spots to some extent is not necessarily going to be 100% finished footage anyway. Plenty of time to do touch ups of that nature. To me, like if People are like, that's an issue. You can. You can deal with that in post. It's not that hard. [00:05:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:54] Speaker B: To me, I love the shot. Why? Because I've never seen Superman on screen from that perspective while he's moving at that speed. That's it. So I am imagining that on imax. I'm imagining that sequence where I'm pivoting from being over his shoulder, him zooming and flipping and circling through to where I'm actually face to face with him as he's flying at supersonic speed. That, to me, is cool. That is original. There's. Find me a shot of Christopher Reeve that looks like that doesn't exist. Find me a shot of Henry Cavill that looks like that doesn't exist. [00:06:34] Speaker A: But there would be. Because I've seen the comparisons, there are some similarities there, but they're not the same, is what I would. [00:06:42] Speaker B: Yeah. And like, the thing is, I've remarked on this. When we first saw the trailer, James Gunn, for the most part, if you look, he's using kind of what looks to be, even with the drones, he's achieving like a Steadicam look. The camera itself is not doing this. The camera is set. You're seeing Superman move in and out of the picture. And I think what's throwing people off a little bit when that one head on shot, it's almost a little bit like looking at a fish in the bowl. You're kind of seeing almost like this like three dimensional, rounded perspective. But again, in my mind, I'm like, project that onto 70 milli. You know, project that onto an IMAX, a true IMAX screen. I think that would look potentially spectacular. [00:07:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:27] Speaker B: Just to see that and feel that with that size. So to me, I'm more focused on the originality because, remember, we heard all that talk in Black Adam about how they were, you know, they'd come up with these technique. It was the only thing that got us interested, that they had these new techniques for how he was going to fly. And that turned out to be a bunch of whatever. [00:07:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:44] Speaker B: But when James Gunn was talking about drones and he could do things with aerials that we couldn't do before, that to me was the first sign of they tried something a little different visually. And so to me, I give it a plus one. I don't worry about the details because he can fix. Like I said, they can fix little things like that in post. Not a big deal. So to me, I actually really. And I texted you immediately, I was like, I really love that sequence at the end of that. That ad. [00:08:09] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:08:10] Speaker B: And I hope they don't show too much of it. I hope they don't show too much of it. I don't want to see too much of it. [00:08:15] Speaker A: Let's see what they showed at the Puppy Bowl. [00:08:19] Speaker B: To your point, I did like the little tease that Lex Luthor is in the Arctic that I liked. [00:08:25] Speaker A: To me, I'm not a fan too much of it because it's like already. He's already going back to his house. Like, I mean, we've done this. We've done. Yeah. [00:08:35] Speaker B: But I think that goes to James Gunn's point about, like, we trust the fans to know the lineage. Right. So we can just skip to, as you said, they already hate each other. Right. So he's like, we've kind of. We're already there. Like, so let's, let's. Let's deal in kind of stories based around that. So I'm okay with it. But they really holding Lois back, though. That's the other thing I'm just pointing out. They don't show her. She doesn't talk. And I think she's a 10 out of 10. So I'm. I feel like there's some design here or they don't want. They don't want you to see or hear her yet. [00:09:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree with you. I think she's gonna be dope. And I think because Los Lane, not to say that Superman needs Lone's Lane, but that is the dynamic and the relationship that sort of connects us to him in that he feels something for a human and they. He has this feeling towards her, this connection towards or this attraction towards her. [00:09:30] Speaker B: But she. See, but. So Amy Adams version, though, seemed. She almost idolized him. And to me, to me, I gotta. This is maybe a weird analogy, but I think. I think you'll know where I'm going with this. I think when it comes to Superman, Lois Lane and Batman are kind of two sides of the same coin. They're both 100% humans who he could crush in an instant, in theory, who have absolutely no problem telling him like it is and giving him crap when he. When he needs to hear it. That's what I love about Lois is like, Lois is a great reporter. And yes, she loves Clark and she loves Superman ultimately. But, like, if she's not happy with what he's doing or how he's acting, she doesn't care. She doesn't hold back. She polices him. She's his conscience in some ways, in a way that I feel like Batman is a much darker version of that, but is perfectly willing to basically be like, go ahead. Right? Like, you know, you know, you don't. You don't do whatever. Like, I'm ready, you know, But. But you're going to hear what I have to say because I'm two steps ahead. Like, to me, they're invaluable parts of the Superman lore. And so I. I still feel like we haven't really had that. Like, if I think about all the low. Only the Animated series to me got there. All of the other Lois's from Margot kid are on down. It's like too warm and fuzzy. [00:11:00] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:00] Speaker B: Versus what I perceive that relationship to actually be like. [00:11:04] Speaker A: Let's see. Let's see if it's bizarro. I think it's gonna be bizarre. [00:11:09] Speaker B: That'd be wild. [00:11:11] Speaker A: That'll be dope. That'll be dope if it was. So the estate sues the release. So it doesn't seem like it's going to release worldwide because of this suit that's being brought upon the production of the Superman film. What is that all about, Brian? [00:11:33] Speaker B: The estate of Superman's creators, Jerry Siegel and Joseph Schuster, have always had a contentious relationship with Warner Brothers. They, of course, have been dead since the 90s, but they are claiming that there are some rights issues that should prevent Superman from being released in box offices in select overseas countries. So the uk, the most notable. But Ireland, Canada, Australia. This is not the first time that the estate has caused a fuss. And you know, the cynic in me says this is just about the estate wanting to get it checked every time. Oh, yeah, there's no new Superman product out there. Right? That's what this is. Right? I love it. The news ran with, this is like, oh, my God, Superman's global release might be blocked. I'm like, stop it. Like, that's not what this is about. The estate wants to get in a room with the Warner Brothers lawyers and say, you're gonna give us a pound of flesh in order to put your movie out. They will hand over a check grudgingly and Superman will come out in all these jurisdictions. But it does. The funny thing about this, I thought was they actually then, as part of this, decided to go back and assert that there was a rights infringement both in the Zack Snyder Justice League and in Black Adam's usage of Superman, which, that would be pretty funny if that whole Henry Cavill cameo thing w up actually literally costing them some additional dollars to the estate. Talk about a late hit. Out of bounds. But anyway, I just thought that was amusing that they're like, hey, while we're at it, we're going to assert copyright infringement on every Superman thing that's come out in the last few years. You're going to give us a little bit of money. I don't think this will stop Superman's release in any way. [00:13:24] Speaker A: Cut the check and move on this. This train is not going to stop it from doing what it needs to do what James Gunn wants it to do, what he wants to begin with in this world of dc. You know, we haven't talked about this. I don't know if we'll talk about it now. We'll probably talk about it sometime later when it's. I think it's more poignant to do so. And that is regard with him writing other stuff. [00:13:58] Speaker B: Ah, yes. [00:13:59] Speaker A: Over other things. [00:14:01] Speaker B: Do you want to talk about it now? [00:14:04] Speaker A: He realizes, Brian, the impact that this character needs to have, and not because he's already. I think he understands perhaps, who knows that after the, the, the. The. The. What's it called, the cameo that he did in. In Creature Commando sparked this feeling towards. I gotta be the one to do this. Because this other guy, I don't know who he's talking to. I don't, you know, thinks that he's gonna be. Forget it. Let me just stop that right there. James Gunn, what he did initially with Superman, every. The speculation was that he was just gonna be the one behind the scenes, signing checks or whatever, making things happen and producing it. And he took it upon himself, realizing what Superman meant and what it means to do. I think he's taking the same approach with Batman. Your thoughts? [00:15:03] Speaker B: So what Pablo's referring to is James Gunn on socials confirmed that on his very busy to do list, he has started writing his next DCU project. To be clear, he did not specify what that is. And I think a lot of people, if they're laying the odds, would probably say Creature Commando Season 2, the Authority, which definitely seems like a James Gunn type of world. Those would be the betting favorites. But you and I agree. We think what he's really writing is Batman. I actually do think in the original conversation and conception of the dcu, he was not going to write and direct Superman. I believe that. I believe he believed that. But the closer he got, and I do think Zaslav probably was in his ear because Zaslov loves Superman so much, kind of was encouraging him to do it. And I think James Gunn was just resisted to be like, I gotta run this whole operation. I can't I can't just do that. But the closer he got, I don't think he's too much of a nerd. I don't think he could help himself. He's like, I might only get. I might not get another chance to write Superman. I can't let that go. I will regret that until I die. And I think it's the same. It's like, you know what? Like, I don't mean to disparage creature commanders or the Authority, but he's already done Suicide Squad. He already did Creature Commandos. He already did Peace. Peacemaker. He's checked those off on his bucket list. If they were on his bucket list. You know what he hasn't written? Batman. You know what everyone in Hollywood wants to write and be associated with one time before they leave the business? Batman. He's writing Batman. I agree with you. I think that's what he's doing. I think the real question is, is he going to direct it? And because that is tonally not really where he's lived in his career, does he want to direct it to. That, I think, is still a little tbd. But, you know, you might have to pull that challenge. You might have to pull that clip from Fast Five. I still think it's the best summation of that, where they're. They're. They're like strategizing about breaking into the vault with $100 million. And they're like, how do you know it's his handprint on the vault? And like, Ludacris turns around, says, you got $100 million in here. You're going to put someone else's handprint on the vault? Like, that's what this is. James gonna. You put someone else's fingerprints on this script and on Batman and on Superman. He's like, if this thing is going to fail, is going to fail on my watch, my way. [00:17:33] Speaker A: I absolutely 100% agree with that sentiment. That if he were to have. I wouldn't blame him of having. And having him take over. I think just makes sense because these are important characters, obviously. And, yeah, you can trust someone else doing it. I mean, hey, like you said, this is the only opportunity I get to do this because I ain't gonna get it again. The best of the best have tried have done it. Tim Burton, Chris Nolan. [00:18:03] Speaker B: Yep. [00:18:04] Speaker A: Why not my name on there? I also think I've been a sold. The names that have been associated with Batman have not been forgotten. Bad object. [00:18:12] Speaker B: No, agree. That's a great point. That's a great point. I Also think it's a good way to placate David Zaslav, who, as we know, is pushing very hard for DCU Batman. And I think one way that James Gunn can kind of keep him appeased but keep the timeline on his terms is to say, I got it right. Because the pressure is like, why don't you hire a writer yet? We have Muschietti. He's still in the parking lot. Like, why isn't he? And like, if James Gunn says, hey, David, it's okay, it's going to take a little longer, but I got it, then I think Zaslav backs off. So I think it does lead me to believe that's what he's writing. And I think there's a. What do you think the odds would be? 60, 40? He directs it. I think it's probably at least 50% that he directs it himself because he just, again, can't. Can't stay away. [00:19:01] Speaker A: I think he does it just for the mere fact that this is the only opportunity he'll get to do something like this. [00:19:08] Speaker B: I think the argument against him directing it is that Superman is a huge success and he has to direct that. And so then it's like, can you really direct Superman and Batman at the same time? I. That I don't totally know that the scale of that is so big. To direct both of those series and then be writing and organizing at the same time, that might be a bridge too far. That's why I say the directing chair, I think, is still. But writing it. This guy, he is. I'm telling. He's like the anti Matt Reeves when it comes to speed writing. He writes at. It must be. He must. I mean, some people can do that. Like, some people can just do that. But he seems able to just sit down and crank scripts out. And they're good. They're generally good. [00:19:50] Speaker A: So Cat 4 is around the corner. I don't think what he said or what he has said will make a dent in what the movie is going to get at the box office. You probably have 200 way less. I don't know. [00:20:16] Speaker B: I think it's less. I think he heard it. Yeah, this was the wrong comment at the wrong time. And I disagree with Tracy's take. You gotta. You gotta know. You gotta know the moment. You can't do that. Can't do that. [00:20:28] Speaker A: But I say. But I say this like he said, like Tracy said. Chris Evans said the same thing about what Captain America represent or should represent. I don't see the difference here. I understand the timing is off. But the only argument I would say is that we're living in different times. And son say something like this has a lot more eyeballs than back then. It'll be interesting to see that box office when it finally, when this, when the movie finally happens. [00:21:07] Speaker B: I don't disagree with your point because you're talking about a 2011 interview that Chris Evans gave where he kind of says something similar. But look, let's give the whole quote. Anthony Mackie had a on, on a press tour in Rome, said, quote, for me, Captain America represents a lot of different things. And I don't think the term America should be one of those representations. It's about a man who keeps his word, who has honor, dignity and integrity. Someone who is trustworthy and dependable, end quote. He then had to come back and basically apologize for what he said or clarify, quote. Let me be clear about this. I'm a proud American and taking on the shield of a hero like Cap is the honor of a lifetime. I have the utmost respect for those who serve and have served our country. Cap has universal characteristics that people all over the world can relate to, end quote. Chris Evans version of this was he said Captain America should be called Captain Good, not Captain America. That was what he quote. I'm not trying to get too lost. This is Chris Evans in 2011. I'm not trying to get too lost in the American side of it. This isn't a flag waving movie. It is red, white and blue. But it just so happens the character was created in America during wartime when there was a common enemy. I've said it before in interviews. It feels more like he should be called Captain Good. You know, he was created at a time when there was this undeniable evil and this guy was created to fight that evil. I think that everyone could agree that Nazis were bad and he capped just so happens to wear red, white and blue, end quote. I don't think it's 100% the same. I do think they're like branches on the same tree. But I think the world in 2025 versus 2011 is different. And I think with the recent shift in climate that is an own goal by Anthony Mackie in a movie that already has some things stacked up against it. And I hate to say it, but Mackie himself is probably unfairly fighting an uphill battle already in the lead role. This is cannon fodder for people to tear him down, which they promptly did. And in a climate where, look, you cannot deny that Disney's box office has been hurt by the perception that they are too progressive, too woke and too focused on cultural themes that has hurt a number of their projects at the box office as a result. People are looking for that and I feel like this just gave them ammunition against the movie that was already tenuous going in because of the reshoots, because all the bad press around it. I think it will hurt the movie. And I don't think he needed to say it. And I think if I was Disney or Marvel, I'm sure the second it came out of his mouth there was someone off stage or someone back in Burbank that was like, what the. Why? [00:23:57] Speaker A: It's safe to say, I think that this would be the last, maybe the last appearance of Captain America. [00:24:05] Speaker B: That's not what he said. He said they're already working on Cap 5 after Secret Wars. [00:24:08] Speaker A: Really? [00:24:09] Speaker B: Yep. He said that's already the plan. And that part of the premise, part of this movie is disposedly to be like the reformation of the Avengers, which, I mean, I don't know what that looks like. That's like the militia to like the Fantastic Four and, and, and, and Ryan Reynolds, a huge actman. But at any rate, he's supposed to be kind of auditioning effectively for that leadership position in this movie. And that's kind of the Connectivity to Avengers 5. Nate Moore, kind of outgoing producer Nate Moore had comments to that effect. But again, I just feel like it's a, you know, it's a bit of a read the room moment. I just don't think he need. He just opened up a can of worms a couple of weeks before this movie came out. And as you always. Like we were talking about with some of these other things, like you just don't want the conversation to go in the, in directions that take away from the product. And he created one. Whether he likes it or not, he created one. [00:24:59] Speaker A: I just don't see if this movie like totally bombs business wise how this is positive in the future with him leading or him being Captain America. You know what I'm saying? [00:25:21] Speaker B: I agree with you. I'm not saying there will be a cap. [00:25:26] Speaker A: What do you think of that? I mean, even though he's saying that, do you think that is a possibility if this movie like tanks like really badly? Is there a future for him? [00:25:38] Speaker B: Well, future as what? Future as the lead Captain America 5. There's, as we know, there's. I mean he could be, he could be relegated to, you know, Captain America shows up as the third or fourth build hero in another project. It's not about him. We never see a solo cap film with him headlining again. That. That's an outcome. [00:26:02] Speaker A: That's definitely an outcome. [00:26:03] Speaker B: Right. I mean there, there clearly will be a Captain America in the MCU at all times. How prominent that character is I think is to be determined. Right. And we then this movie will go a fair bit to determining whether that's the case or not. [00:26:19] Speaker A: So let us know in the comment section below what you guys think. Spider Man 4 Reactions. I saw the first two episodes today. [00:26:26] Speaker B: Sorry, friendly neighborhood Spider man, not Spider Man 4. [00:26:29] Speaker A: My bad. Friendly neighborhood Spider Man. I saw the first two episodes. Yeah, I like it. [00:26:37] Speaker B: I agree. [00:26:38] Speaker A: I like visually how this is how they executed. His. His swinging is dope. [00:26:45] Speaker B: Yep. [00:26:46] Speaker A: I'm interested in seeing more. That's all I can say. My kid was watching it and he was like glued when he was doing his swinging. And there is a very visually unique style that I haven't seen with Spider man before and is done very well. Like, almost like, I don't know, just done really well. I would just say yeah, it's like. [00:27:10] Speaker B: This weird 2D 3D thing that kind of works. It really is comic book pages, but they look good the way they. And the way they bring it to life. And like I said, I defend the idea that this is. I think it's really important in animation. Animated is not a one size fits all. Like, part of the reason we love like Blue Eye Samurai is that looks different. That's animated, but it looks awesome and like. And unique. I like that this looks very different than X Men 97. I applaud them for doing that. It's part of the reason I'm intrigued by Isaac Wakanda. We know they're trying something even different from that. Like not all of these are going to work, but I like that this looks different. I also do like the nod to the Holland Spider Man. That was probably one of my favorite little sequences that they recreated and then twisted and I was like, ah, I like it. I like what you did there. But you're right, the action is good. The action is pretty good in this right down to the like. Was not expecting the Doc Strange set piece out of the gate. And I was like, oh, we're doing this. We're doing. We're doing. Going this route out of the. I was like, that actually kind of was like, oh, okay. I'm, I'm, I'm intrigued, like what's going on here? [00:28:24] Speaker A: So, yeah, I'm excited to see who else pops up how they look. [00:28:30] Speaker B: We already plant the Easter Eggs. [00:28:32] Speaker A: Iron Man. Yes, yes, yes. [00:28:33] Speaker B: Yeah. And Amadeus. Amadeus Cho pops up, right. As a character. So, like, they're planting seed, their universe building within this show, which I think is interesting. Yeah. And kind of doing that a little bit like X Men did, where it's sort of X Men, just like had the characters there, like, in the suit, like you, just as if it was nothing. Right. I was like, oh, you know who that is? You know? And they're doing a little bit of the same here. Right. A little bit of the same here. I. I do think, because he commented about this before the show came out, we're on a T minus to a bo knows, though, because it wasn't just Norman Osborne who got flipped. [00:29:07] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:29:08] Speaker B: Carla Connors. Really? [00:29:10] Speaker A: Yes. [00:29:11] Speaker B: So we've got. We got some stuff going on that he's not going to be, I think, a fan of, given his prior commentary on Marvel changing the ethnicity of only the villains. So just. Just be on the lookout for. [00:29:35] Speaker A: Oh, man, that segment is hilarious. But yeah. Did your. Your kid watch Spider Man? [00:29:42] Speaker B: She hasn't seen. I haven't shown it to you yet. I wanted to watch it first before. Before I watched it with her, but I was. I was happy with it. I was pleasantly surprised, and I thought that it got me more intrigued. Just intrigued. You know, I'm sort of like, okay, you're taking me on some new adventures. And I think the. The voice work is good. I mean, you'd expect Coleman Domingo to be awesome as a different version of Norman Osborne, but the voice work's been really good. Hudson th me along is good. So, yeah, no, I'm. I'm invested now. I'm really excited to see what else in the universe we're gonna get with this. I was just not expecting this, the scope of this to be as big as it seems like they're willing to make it. [00:30:17] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let us know in the comment section. We love you. Got a chance to check it out. [00:30:23] Speaker B: Speaking of comments, though, we do have to bring this up because if we're gonna give. If we're gonna give Anthony Mackie, you know, a question about what he said, we got to give Hudson Thames some air time about what he said. So Hudson Thames is voicing Peter Parker and speaking with Collider. Here's the whole quote. I think it was awesome. I mean, my biggest fear was it was going to be annoying and woke and it isn't. I was like, this is great. So well written. Feels so real. I'm the oldest of five boys, so I feel Like, I kind of know what's happening in their lives in high school. And I felt like it was doing that justice. End quote. Another comment. I feel like Disney would probably not have loved the lead of a show basically saying because it's a Disney show, it automatically was going to be, quote, annoying and woke. [00:31:09] Speaker A: And I. And as you're watching the show, you've seen these things transpire and you're like, did he not watch this? [00:31:18] Speaker B: There's definitely some progressive stuff in the show. Like, it's not definitely. It's not traditionalist. [00:31:25] Speaker A: So. So, like, his statement just made me think like, ah, he. This. He's just a kid. I just, I just, just chalk it up to just being here, the kid and really, and not really knowing what this is all about. But yes, he does do a fantastic job as the voice of Peter Parker. And again, I'm looking forward to seeing what, what, what else is in, in store for us in that show. X Men Rumors, Russo's apparently it is going to be starting to film in the fall and there's also some casting rumors. What about the Russos? Are they signing up for more? Are they staying in the world of the X Men? [00:32:07] Speaker B: Brian so the rumor is that they will oversee the X Men reboot after Avengers Secret Wars. Oversee kind of feels like a trade. No? Kind of. I'm kind of. When I saw this story which indicated they had already signed a deal with Disney and Marvel to oversee additional projects, including the reboot of the X Men, it made me immediately think of them saying, sure, we'll come back and try to salvage Avengers 5 and 6 for you, but here's what we want in return for that one. And what we really want is X Men. Because they've said that in the past where they've. They have previously said the X Men was sort of their dream, more so than doing more Avengers. And so I kind of feel like there was some little quid pro quo here. Marvel's kind of like, we need you, right? This is the Die Hard with a Vengeance. Like, I need you. I need you more than you need me, kind of, you know, and I think the Rusers were like, we'll do this. But the thing we really want on the back end of this is we want to be in charge of the X Men reboot now filming this fall. I am skeptical. I got to be honest. There's a rumor that they're going to the reboot shooting in October. That seems incredibly quick from where we are today because that would imply you got to get cast you got to get script. Like, we're not anywhere on that. Like, I, I know there's, they're working on it generically, but, like, this idea that there's supposedly a UK shoot set for October 6th. I mean, they have a writer, but it wasn't really one that we were so excited about. It was the Hunger Games, Ballad of Songbird, and Snakes, writer Michael Leslie. But I mean, he was only hired, like, at the end of last year, so I don't know, like, this feels, this feels skeptical to me. And plus, we know they're still working on Avengers 5 and 6 right now, so how the hell are they shooting a new X Men movie while that's happening? So I don't know that that part feels ambitious to me. But, but the Russo's running the X Men. How do you feel about that? Are you excited about that? Are you okay with it? [00:34:17] Speaker A: I'm okay with it because they've again, they've given us Winter Soldier, Civil War, Infinity War, Endgame. Who knows what they'll give us with this? I, I, My feeling is that they're going to do something better than what we were going to get, because I think what we were going to get, I still think they had no idea what that was based on. The, the, the, the stories, as of late, of them sort of rehashing and starting over again with the stories sort of makes me think that they're thinking about this very thoughtfully and we're going to get a story that makes sense for us to watch. And they're comic book guys again. They, they gave us Winter Soldier. They gave us In Game, Infinity War. So them taking over and then perhaps realizing, like, listen, there's other stuff that we're doing isn't working. Let's do something that we love in the world that we love. We do it well. We understand the stories, we understand the characters. We know what we want. This is play here. So that's my, that's what I feel towards that I think is a good, it's a good thing. [00:35:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's, it's relatively safe hands. I mean, that's what we kind of see. It does feel like the Russos and Marvel together are better than they are apart. So I guess the one concern or question I would have is just, do you run the risk of sameness? Like, did they, you know, they have a style that lent itself incredibly well to the Infinity Saga. Is there a point at which having them do more and more and more and more starts to put more of these films into the same box. Right. Which Marvel has already been criticized for the formula in the past and for things kind of being homogenous. Is there a risk here that too much Russo's means too many things feel and look and sound the same? And I don't know that we want our X Men universe to look and sound the same as our Avengers universe Casting rumors. [00:36:28] Speaker A: Who, who have they supposedly gotten for some of these? [00:36:33] Speaker B: Well, so if you recall, to give a recap, we've had the IO out of Biria Storm. That was last week. We've had Sadie Sink for Jean Gray out there for a little while. This week it was Cyclops's turn. There were three different Cyclops casting rumors in the span of about five days, one of whom certainly would be familiar to genre people at least. So you had a British actor, Harris Dickinson, who's 28, might have seen him in Murder at the End of the World, might have seen him in Iron Claw. He was one of the smaller parts as one of the brothers in that wrestling biopic. So there's a rumor that he's up for the role. There is a separate rumor that Jack Champion, who is going to be seen later this year in Avatar, who was in Avatar Way of Water and is going to be back apparently in Fire and Ash. He's young, he's only 20. So that was also. That was also a second rumor. And then the one that's most familiar to people in the genre is there's been a more recent rumor of Brenton Thwaites, who played Dick Grayson in Titans, has also been rumored to be looked at for this role. So he had three Cyclops rumors in a week. I, I don't know how to handicap those, but. So he's 20, Dickinson is 28 and then Thwaits is 35. So that's a pretty wide range. So those are the three rumors in five days that we've gotten for this one part, which probably means none of them will get it, but you know. [00:38:04] Speaker A: Yeah, but it seems that they're looking, they're looking to. I mean, it makes sense that they want a younger looking team. [00:38:13] Speaker B: Oh yeah. I think everyone. Yeah. Because out of beer is 29. Sadie sink is in her 20s. Yeah. The odds are this is a 20 something team. This is a team that's even younger than the first, than the First Class team, than the Matthew Vaughn team was. That'd be my guess. And the expectation is you will see some of these in the Avengers movies. Right. The expectation is like a couple cameo. You'll. They'll introduce you to a few of these characters. As Kevin had mentioned, you would see a few X Men along the way before you got through Secret Wars. So I would expect they are close on at least one of these characters, if not already have a deal in place with someone. [00:38:52] Speaker A: All I'm saying is Paul Mescal is. [00:38:55] Speaker B: We're on the Paul Mescal train. We're also. I'm with you though. We're also on the train of the X Men reboot. Doesn't necessarily have to have all the X Men in it. I think you and I are in that camp of start smaller and get to the X Men the way you did for the original Avengers movie. [00:39:14] Speaker A: Did you hear any room about Jared Leto in the X Men? [00:39:17] Speaker B: No. Who did I hear? Jared. Though there I did hear he was being eyed for another Marvel role, but I didn't. I didn't hear it was an X Men specific role. [00:39:25] Speaker A: What do you think about him as Professor X? [00:39:28] Speaker B: Nah, not. Probably not my favorite, to be honest. Probably not my favorite. I'm not a huge Jared Leto fan. I gotta be honest, as an actor. [00:39:35] Speaker A: We'll see after he. Man, he's playing Skeletor. [00:39:40] Speaker B: Well, that one he might be able to do just because he looks a little bit Skeletor. The seat, the effects, the motion capture may not have to be that extensive on that one, but. No, I guess I feel like I've seen him as sort of, I don't know, like, you know, he. He has the. He has the sort of the creepy CEO turn in Blade Runner 2049. Like, I don't know. I just. I don't think he's Professor X to me. [00:40:02] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. So what character would you think he'd be going up for in. In that world? [00:40:14] Speaker B: Well, you're assuming it's in that world. Like, why couldn't he be. I mean, could he be like, for example, I'll just make something up. Could he be a villain in Doctor Strange 3? I don't know. Why not? His affect fits more over there to me than it does in. Is in the X Men. But I guess his turn as Morbius has not put them off having him in the mcu. [00:40:34] Speaker A: Yeah, interesting. And lastly, Chris Evans is taking a page from Garfield and shall we call it lying or he's of. He seems more like he's avoiding than strain that I'm not in the movie. He's just saying, I'm retired. I'm retired. Whatever the case may be. He's not saying, no, I'm not in the movie, but for right now, yeah, I'm advertised. I haven't done anything yet. What are your thoughts on him taking this approach? I don't think. I think he's just. He's not staying straight. He's not saying, no, I'm not in the movie. He's just saying, I'm retired. Which is better than him saying, no, I'm not in the movie. I'm telling you, the truth is, like, we don't need to be talking about his association to the film just yet. We're so far away from it, it's like, what's the point of talking about this right now? Yeah, your thoughts. [00:41:30] Speaker B: Here's the quotes, and then we could talk about it. So there's a quote from Anthony Mackie and then there's a quote from Chris Evans. So Mackie told Esquire, I talked to Chris a few weeks ago. It wasn't on the table then. At least he didn't tell me it was on the table because I asked him. I was like, you know, they said they're bringing everyone back for the movie, so are you coming back? And he says, oh, you know, I'm happily retired, end quote. So Evans backed that up in his own interview, which he said, this always happens. I mean, it happens every couple years. Ever since End Game, I've just stopped responding to it. Yeah, no, happily retired, end quote. Fine. You know what? And the thing is, this could be defensible on the grounds that the Earth 616 Steve Rogers still is retired, but he's coming back as Nomad or he's coming back as some other version of himself. And then he could say, no, I wasn't like, you know, that version of me is retired and is not coming back. Like, he's in the movie. Like, we know that it's fine if he. If he wants to play dumb and. And go on the Garfield tour, that's fine. We all know he's going to show up in the movie, and it's really just a question of how much he has to do in the movie. But he will be there, as were all of the. All of the old friends. I mean, like, is there any doubt? I mean, I don't know. [00:42:45] Speaker A: I mean, no, there's no doubt at all. He probably, I'm retired as Captain America, but I will be back as Nomad. Whatever. [00:42:53] Speaker B: Here's the thing. For these people in that original six in particular, why are you going to be the one who doesn't show up? You really going to any. Like, are you really going to do that. Like, everyone's coming back in some capacity and like, you're going to get Renner or Evans or one of these or, you know, Johansson, who are just going to be like, nah, I'm too good for that. Like, you're not going. They're not going to do that. They're not going to do that. Now, will they hold out for the right price? Absolutely. But they're all gonna be there. They don't want to be the one where, like, after the fact, they don't want their people who they hang out with, asking them all the time, yo, why. Why didn't you show up? Why weren't you in the movie? What happened to your part? They don't want to deal with that. They're all be there. [00:43:41] Speaker A: Yeah. And the she Hulk situation, Brian. [00:43:44] Speaker B: Oh, that's. This is well hilarious. So obviously, as we know, Daredevil made in appearance, I would argue a less than successful appearance in she Hulk. So that's naturally led to the question, would they return the favor? Would we see Jennifer Walters in Born Again? Darius Garda Pain, who obviously ran Punisher, is now running Born Again. So, quote, I have plenty of leeway up until I hit the larger scale plan for the mcu. So I tried to ignore some stuff from the wider universe. We established a very specific Daredevil, both in terms of his dilemma down to the suit and where we're picking him up in his life. So you can say that Daredevil is canon in the mcu. You can say those other events like in Spider man and she Hulk happened, but some of them we're not leaning into. And his one night stand with she Hulk may be one of those things. End quote. Bravo. Bravo. [00:44:43] Speaker A: Well done, sir. [00:44:47] Speaker B: You passed. Congratulations. [00:44:52] Speaker A: To be connected to something as a. As atrocious as she Hulk, because that's what it was, an expensive atrocity. [00:45:03] Speaker B: I don't. There's nothing irreparable that they did necessarily, but they put some dents in Daredevil in his debut, I thought. So there's a couple of things if we rewind the clock and have to revisit that show. So number one, the action state choreography for Daredevil in that show was not good. It's not good. [00:45:21] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:45:22] Speaker B: He did not look nearly as agile or as terrifying as he did in the Netflix show. [00:45:29] Speaker A: It did not look goofy, especially when. [00:45:31] Speaker B: He was kind of quasi fighting with Jennifer Walters. The second thing is, I had a problem with the costume construction when they showed his cowl in the box with that guy making the costumes. No, he has a costume design. He has a dude who specifically designs his supplies and they ripped that from him and they made it a joke with that designer that Jennifer Walters was going to see. You can't do that. So bravo for basically just saying like, fine, we're gonna pretend like that never happened. Their version of she Hulk tonally does not fit in our show and we're just gonna move on. [00:46:16] Speaker A: No show with a Hulk wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Introducing his bastard kid is worth the time. [00:46:23] Speaker B: No. [00:46:25] Speaker A: To associate with. I'm sorry. But yeah, a lot, A lot of things happening with this mcu and I guess the tail end of the phases of this world. MCU 2.0 is right around the corner. And now we're going to see Fantastic Four. The trailer coming out on Tuesday. [00:46:49] Speaker B: Very excited. [00:46:50] Speaker A: Yes, me too. Because now we get to see, you know, what they want us to see. No leaked nothing. This is going to be what they want us to see. And they know what they're up against and what this has to be based on what has been done that wasn't successful. Multiple times. Multiple times. So this has to smack. This has to be great. This has to be fantastic. [00:47:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:47:21] Speaker A: Quite frankly. And we're gonna be seeing a glimpse of that on Tuesday. I might just. When it comes on, I probably might just call up Freddie and see. Yo, Freddie, you got time. Let's watch this. [00:47:37] Speaker B: Well, if I could do something, I'll do it, but I don't know if I can, so. But yeah, I'm very excited to see the motif in high definition. Before we leave though, we've been doing a lot of Cassidy rumors. I got one last one for you because it keeps coming and going. You know, we got the Gosling Star wars rumor the other day for the Shawn Levy film. The other one that is back and is circulating again is Cavill, is Henry Cavill had a meeting with Star wars executives for a villain role is the word, but nobody knows what project. If someone can get the message to him. Dawn of the Jedi, that's the one you want. If you want to be. You want to do something fun in the Star wars universe and maybe build a character that's memorable, be the villain in that movie. [00:48:25] Speaker A: I'm talking to you, Henry Campbell, because. [00:48:27] Speaker B: I'm just gonna say if you can get yourself to a place where in a 12 month span, you are the villain in dawn of the Jedi and you are Prince Lotor immortality, take it, it's yours. You have my respect for a long time. If you do that in what in one Year. [00:48:49] Speaker A: But seriously, at the Warhammer, though. [00:48:51] Speaker B: But I think your upside is enormous if you go with that movie. That's the one. I mean, if you really are having a conversation where you can kind of drift in and out of, do you want the Levy one, Do you want the Kinberg one, Do you want the Mango one? Take the dawn of the Jedi. It's the most interesting project. [00:49:08] Speaker A: It separates you from what's going on now. So, yeah, let us know in the comment section below what you got. Think, think of Henry Cavill's participation in the Star Wars. What role or what era should he be in? I. Whoever is considering being a part of Star wars, just very much consider being in the mango joint because it's not necessarily something that you. He's going to do. On and on and on and on. Maybe. I don't know, but I doubt it. I think this is probably just a one and done situation. Right. [00:49:42] Speaker B: Well, I just think, as I said, you should play this from the standpoint of upside. Right? It's like if you, if you do Skywalker Saga 10, there's a lot of down. To me, there's more downside to that than upside. Like you now you're exposed to all the vitriol and all the fan hate and all the stuff that's made these projects almost impossible. But if you go for the dawn of the Jedi project, like you're in a whole different space and if you pull it off, you've rerouted Star wars ip and if you don't pull it off, I think you're fine. I think it's kind of like, okay, it's funny. Someone had commented, rightfully so from a commercial standpoint, that James Mangold and Disney haven't had the best run because Dial of Destiny wasn't successful at the box office. And then he just did kind of Complete Unknown, which is, I mean, it's not really designed to be a big box office hit. But my counter to that is the movies are not bad like Dial of Destiny, considering you've got an 80 year old Harrison Ford is not that bad. It's. It's better than Crystal Skull. It's not great, but it's better than Crystal Skull and Complete Unknown for everyone I've talked to who's seen it. And I'm not a big Bob Dylan guy, has liked it and has liked Chalamet in it. And so again, I go back like, and the critics have liked both of those projects. So he typically makes movies that people like. I think it's a fair question to say, can he make a massive hit with this? But like I said, I mean, Ford versus Ferrari. Logan, like, he makes pretty good stuff. I think this is the project you want to be hitched to, because if you hit, if you get a good one out of this, like, now you're going places, you. Now you have somewhere to work, someplace to work that's new and different in Star Wars. So that'd be my advice. And Henry Cavill, if they didn't announce him as the villain for that project, it would increase my interest. [00:51:32] Speaker A: Anything associated with that project increases my interest. The mere mention of it, the mere mention of it, of progress, piques my interest because we get. We get towards the end of it finally being released and us seeing what. What this looks like 10,000 years or whatever. How long ago this. [00:51:53] Speaker B: 25,000 years, I think. I think it's 25,000 years. [00:51:56] Speaker A: 25,000 years. The dawn of the Jedi, that is. Just take my money. Take it, you know. So, yeah, let us know in the comment section below what you guys think of everything that we've talked about. Fantastic Four is coming up. Super bowl next week. Puppy bowl is what we're looking for. [00:52:19] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll have a recap on all the trailers. There's a lot. There's a lot of trailers coming, so we'll probably do a breakdown of all that. Yeah, yeah. [00:52:25] Speaker A: So, yeah, let us know in the comments below what you guys think. Hit that like. And subscribe. We thank you for your subscriptions and your comments and your likes, and we'll see you next time on the Nerdgen Report.