After the initial wave of Avengers film, people started wishing that Marvel had the Fantastic Four film rights, so that they could apply the same MCU formula to the first family in comics. Years later, Disney obtained those rights as part of their overall acquisition of 20th Century Fox. Fantastic Four: First Steps is the result. For this episode we dive deep into the story. We talk about the characters, the choices that were made in the depictions, and how we feel those resonate. We debate some of the story decisions and how well those worked for us. We discuss whether origin stories are necessary, the pros and cons of shorter films, and how we think that this movie will fit into the overall MCU storyline. Give it a listen and let us know what you think!
This week’s Five-Minute Controversy asks what we think of Nintendo’s unasked for announcement that Peach and Mario are not a couple but just “very good friends”.
This week Stephen, Michael, and Page join the cast.
Show Notes:
Nintendo says Peach and Mario are “just good friends”
Like what you heard? Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/42cast. You can also find us on X as @42cast, Instagram/Threads as 42cast, or Blue Sky as 42cast.bsky.social. We can also be found on Youtube or rss.com where you can find links to all of the various podcast providers where we can be found. Please, leave us a review. Have a question for the Ultimate Answer? E-mail us at [email protected]. Want to be part of the discussion, join our Discord Server where you can talk about any form of geekiness, opine on the episodes, or participate in our general silliness.
Thunderbolts* was one of the risky ventures that Marvel puts out from time-to-time. Featuring a cast of supporting characters from previous films and series, the story catapults several characters to prominence while doing a fair amount of Marvel world-building and character development. In this episode we go over Thunderbolts*. We talk about the plot of the film and how well it works as a bridge between phases Five and Six. We discuss the characters and how they’re utilized within the story. We also give our opinions on whether this story feels like it has “homework”. We’ll also get into that asterix and whether we think that Marvel dropped the ball on the marketing. 
Marvel has generated a lot of buzz lately with announcements regarding the upcoming phases of their universe. This week we discuss the announcements from the SDCC and D23 2022. We’ll talk about our favorite announcements. We discuss the things that surprise us. We’ll opine on the direction that the MCU seems to be going and how we feel about it. 
We’ve all had the experience. We see a movie that we know is truly awful by any measurable factor, but we love it anyway. In this episode we discuss the phenomenon that makes something “so bad that it’s good”. We talk about our favorite movies that fit that description and discuss our experiences with the specific media. We also get into what makes a movie “so bad that it’s good” different from movies that are just bad or movies that you disagree with the majority about whether it is bad. 
Eighty years ago a man named Martin Goodman founded Timely Comics, and the world would never be the same. We discuss the history of Marvel, starting with its founding in 1939 as Timely Comics. We discuss the name changes to Atlas and eventually Marvel. We talk about the major characters of the golden, silver, and bronze ages. We discuss our theories of what differentiates Marvel from its competition. We also talk about favorite characters in each era. 
Marvel’s Inhumans made history by being the only MCU series to not be renewed for a second season. With controversial choice of showrunner, Scott Buck, helming the show, the series suffered from poor ratings and poor reception from the fanbase. In this episode we examine the Inhumans series and examine what went wrong. In addition we examine the context of the show and the usage of the characters within the fabric of the greater MCU as well as how the characters from adapted from their comics origin. We also talk about the things that we liked about the show. After that we talk about whether the MCU should scrub the show from the continuity or what we would do to salvage it in the ongoing Marvel narrative. 
Timeless gained a second year because the fans demanded it. In a season with reduced runtime and a lower budget Timeless fought for its very survival and told another interesting story through time. In this episode we delve into the changes between Timeless season 1 and season 2, talk about the growth in the characters, and what we think of the evolving Timeless storyline. Sadly, this episode was recorded before we knew that there would be a finale film, so our speculations on a season 3 will always remain just speculations.