Season 6 saw a lot of chagnes for Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. It was the first season that only ran for 13 episodes. It was the first season to run over the summer. It also was the first season without Agent Coulson. In the midst of all these changes the series found itself cut adrift from the Marvel films and needing to come up with a story without any ties to the larger MCU. In this episode we discuss the changes, the character arcs, whether we think that the Sarge revelation worked, if the series really no longer exists in the same reality with the films, and if Mack saved the Marvel TV universe from Thanos. Also, make sure to stay to the end, so that you can hear Mike Nelson’s theme song developed by our very own editor, Ben Gibbs!
The five-minute controversy this week asks whether Sony pulling Spider-Man from the MCU would be good for anyone.
This week Ryan, Mike, and Anji join the cast.
Show Notes:
Enoch and the Holograms Poster:
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Ant Man and the Wasp had a strange position in the Marvel schedule. Sandwiched between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, Ant Man and the Wasp tells the story of what happened to Scott Lang between Civil War and Infinity War. In this episode we unpack the story. We talk about the comic roots that inform some of the choices. We talk about the characters and the storyline. We also talk about how we feel that this will impact Endgame and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole. 
Avengers: Infinity War was a unique event in the history of cinema. Never before had 18 movies and multiple franchises culminated in a single movie combining all of the franchises and giving payoff for the various stories. In this episode from the archives we do a deep dive into the storyline. We talk about the ways that all of the existing characters are handled. We talk about the epic scale of the crossover, and we discuss breakout hit character Thanos. 
The Black Panther was a character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby back in the 1960’s. Portraying him as the ruler of a technologically superior African nation, Lee and Kirby showed just how visionary they could be in a time when the idea of a black superhero was controversial. Knowing the history behind the character and the potential for this movie, Marvel took it’s time introducing the character to ensure that it gave him a movie of the quality that he deserved. In this episode of The 42cast we delve into Black Panther and talk about whether it succeeded in its goal and what we thought of the storytelling, characters, and it’s place within the greater MCU. 
Four years and 2 networks into the series, Supergirl seems to have finally found it’s footing. In this episode we discuss difficulties of writing for the eternal optimism of Kara Danvers. We also discuss John Cryer’s surprising turn as Lex Luthor, Brainiac 5’s addition to the cast, and why a little moral ambiguity goes a long way in a series like this. 
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. 
Back in 2015, Marvel and Sony announced an unprecedented deal to allow Marvel to use Spider-Man in their movies and for Marvel to allow Sony to use some of their characters in a Spider-Man movie. No money changed hands, and both studios reaped the rewards. This week we dive into Spider-Man: Homecoming and how it stacks up to previous attempts to do Spider-Man on film. We talk about how this version of Spider-Man fits into the MCU and why we’re so glad that we didn’t see yet another origin story. We also talk about the stellar work of Michael Keaton as the Vulture and speculate on what the sequel holds for our wall-crawling hero. 
This is it, the fourth Netflix series co-produced with Marvel, which introduced the last of the four characters that they’d promised since 2014. After three amazing series, the public was primed for Iron Fist but for some reason it didn’t hit as well as the other three. In this episode we dive into that. We talk about how well this worked as an adaptation of the character, the importance of taking time to polish a series, the importance of choreography for a martial arts series, the acting, plots, continuity with the other “Defenders” series and so much more.