Phase Five of the MCU completed this year. The phase was unique in that it had more content than prior Marvel phases. In this episode we take a deep dive on Phase Five. We discuss our favorite parts of this portion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We debate the perceived drop in quality among fandom and whether we think that there’s any merit to those arguments. We also discuss where these arguments are coming from. We also give our opinions on what we know is coming in Phase Six as well as speculate on what we think is coming that hasn’t been announced yet.
Due to time constraints there is no five-minute controversy this week.
This week Anji, Alli, and Mike join the cast.
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The What If..? series was a surprise hit from Marvel. Distinguishing Marvel Animation in a way that the company had not managed previously, the series boasted high quality animation and intriguing storylines that pushed the boundaries of the MCU. In this episode we explore the third season of the series. We discuss the individual episodes and what each meant to us. We talk about the characters and how the various alternate scenarios influenced them. We also get into our overall sense of the story, whether we thought that the final two episodes were a worthy resolution, and and whether we’d like to see the What If concept make a comeback.
The first season of Loki was one of the most popular Marvel series on Disney+. It only made sense for Marvel to do a second season. In this episode we review the Loki series. We discuss the plot and whether all of the elements work. We talk about unusual performances and new characters. We also get into the Jonathan Majors controversy and how this may have effected this series as well as what we think it means for the MCU storyline moving forward. 
It seems like you can’t throw an infinity of rocks without hitting a movie, TV show, or book that uses the concept of the multiverse. In this episode we delve deep into the concept of a multiverse. We discuss the various types of multiverse utilized in fiction and get a little into the meta and in-universe reasoning behind it. We talk about why the multiverse is a concept that holds our interest. Finally we give our recomendations for things that have used the multiverse well that you should check out. 
Marvel has gone into the multiverse in a big way. In this episode we take a look at the biggest expression of that to date with What If. We discuss the series as the MCU’s first animation project. We discuss the What If concept and talk about which episodes worked for us. We also debate why this series had such a mixed response from the public and what we want to see from it moving forward. We also talk about what this series could mean for the future of Marvel going forward. 
Loki was one of the most anticipated of the initial Marvel series announced for Disney+. Many had wondered how Marvel would handle the Loki variant that escaped during Avengers: Endgame. The series would eventually be incredibly important, setting up concepts that would be developed further in What If…, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. In this episode we discuss the Loki series. We talk about the characters, how they’re developed, and how they’re portrayed. We discuss Loki in the context of the MCU and multiversal variants. We also get into a discussion of the multiverse, how the MCU has portrayed it, and what this could mean for the future. Hang around for the outtakes as Alli goes into detail about her feelings for Avengers: Endgame. 
The 42cast goes bad this week as we take a look at the darker side of entertainment. In this episode we talk about villains. We discuss what makes a character an interesting villain and exactly what criteria you should use to determine if a villain is the “greatest”. Then, we talk about our favorite villains across all of media and why these we think they have a claim to the title of “greatest”. 
As Runaways season 3 rushes at us, we’re taking a look back to our discussion of season 2. Runaways was a surprise property for Marvel TV, taking a relatively new comic and placing it on Hulu during a time when Marvel was mostly putting TV content on Netflix. The first season achieved both critical and fan acclaim, garnering a renewal on Hulu was an increased episode count. In this episode we examine the 13 episode second season, discuss the plotlines, talk about the characters, and speculate on what we’ll see in season 3. 
It’s been over six months, since Thor: Ragnarok hit theaters. Teaming up Thor with the Hulk, the film boasted a higher humor content than previous movies in the Thor franchise and also ended up being the highest grossing film in the series to date. This week, the 42cast talks about the movie, it’s place in the Thor franchise as well as the MCU in general, and what we’d like to see out of the franchise in the future. We also debut our new segment, Five Minute Controversies.