1 00:00:00,930 --> 00:00:02,957 This is a DynaMic Network podcast. 2 00:00:24,398 --> 00:00:29,319 Welcome to the Dynamic Duel Podcast, a weekly show where we review superhero films and debate 3 00:00:29,359 --> 00:00:34,940 the superiority between Marvel and DC by comparing their characters in stat-based battle simulations. 4 00:00:35,361 --> 00:00:40,782 I'm Johnny DC. And I'm his twin brother, Marvelous Joe. And in this episode, we are reviewing 5 00:00:41,102 --> 00:00:46,964 the Amazon exclusive animated series, Batman Caped Crusader. It was developed by Bruce Timm, 6 00:00:47,224 --> 00:00:52,325 the very same Bruce Timm that created the Batman cartoon series from the 90s that we all know 7 00:00:52,365 --> 00:00:57,904 and love. Yeah, Jonathan and I are still in what we call review hell because DC decided 8 00:00:57,924 --> 00:01:02,727 to release a whole lot of summer projects within the same like four week time span. Just bear 9 00:01:02,747 --> 00:01:06,949 with us. We're almost through to the end, I think with the Joker Follyado movie. Yeah, 10 00:01:06,969 --> 00:01:12,812 see this kind of like, you know, Dante's Inferno coming out through Paradiso and the Joker Follyado 11 00:01:12,832 --> 00:01:17,195 film is Paradiso because it's gonna be so damn good. Have you seen the reviews of it so far? 12 00:01:17,355 --> 00:01:22,830 I don't trust those Rotten Tomatoes critics. Those guys are assholes. Anyway, before we 13 00:01:22,870 --> 00:01:26,634 get into our review of Batman Caves Crusader, we're going to break down the comic book movie 14 00:01:26,654 --> 00:01:32,739 news from the past week, including the Venom, The Last Dance final trailer and the news that 15 00:01:32,799 --> 00:01:37,763 Destin Daniel Crichton is in talks to direct Spider-Man 4. As always, we list our segment 16 00:01:37,803 --> 00:01:41,446 times in our episode description, so feel free to check out the show notes if you want to 17 00:01:41,466 --> 00:01:47,492 skip ahead to a particular topic. Our artificially intelligent Duel simulator, AJ-9K, has a quick 18 00:01:47,532 --> 00:01:53,902 message for our listeners, so listen up. Why hello there, do you want even more from this 19 00:01:53,922 --> 00:01:58,684 podcast? Then become a part of the dynamic Duel community on Patreon, where you can choose 20 00:01:58,704 --> 00:02:03,786 from three tiers. The dynamic two-oh tier gives you access to our Discord chat server. The 21 00:02:03,827 --> 00:02:08,288 fantastic four tier gives you two bonus episodes each month, and the X-Force tier makes you 22 00:02:08,308 --> 00:02:13,680 an executive producer of this show. Lastly, The Diner Mike Podcast Network tier lets you 23 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:18,204 create your own podcast using this Monte Carlo simulator. Jonny and Joe will help you develop 24 00:02:18,224 --> 00:02:23,769 your show, provide graphic support and consultation, and get you simulation results. Pitch the twins 25 00:02:23,789 --> 00:02:29,895 your ideas via email at dynamicduelpodcast at gmail.com. Check it out at patreon.com slash 26 00:02:29,935 --> 00:02:36,221 dynamicduel. Pip pip cheerio. Thanks AJ9K and thanks to everyone who supports the podcast. 27 00:02:36,758 --> 00:02:40,720 Guys, be sure to tune into the other shows on the DynaMic Podcast Network this week, including 28 00:02:40,780 --> 00:02:44,842 Max Destruction, which pits your favorite action heroes from film and television against each 29 00:02:44,882 --> 00:02:51,105 other. This week, hosts Scotty and Gilly are reviewing Terminator 2, Judgement Day. Great 30 00:02:51,145 --> 00:02:56,988 film. One of the best films of all time. On the Senjoworld podcast, host Zachary Hepburn 31 00:02:57,008 --> 00:03:02,451 speculates on fights between fan favorite anime and manga characters. This Thursday, Zach will 32 00:03:02,471 --> 00:03:08,270 be fighting out who would win between Jotaro from Jojo's Bizarre against Joker from Persona 33 00:03:08,330 --> 00:03:13,773 5. That's a big one. On the Console Combat Podcast hosts John and Dean simulate battles between 34 00:03:13,813 --> 00:03:18,995 popular video game characters, and yesterday's episode, they reviewed the Borderlands film. 35 00:03:19,395 --> 00:03:24,337 Visit dynamicpodcasts.com or click the link in our show notes to listen to all of the shows 36 00:03:24,717 --> 00:03:32,000 in the DynaMic Podcast Network. But with that out of the way, quick to the No Prize! A No 37 00:03:32,041 --> 00:03:36,503 Prize is an award Marvel used to give out to fans. Our version, the Dynamic Duel No Prize, 38 00:03:36,563 --> 00:03:40,946 is a digital award we post on Instagram for the person that we feel gave the best answer 39 00:03:40,986 --> 00:03:46,330 to our question of the week. Last week we asked, who would you cast as Richard Ryder in the 40 00:03:46,390 --> 00:03:51,594 Nova series and Hal Jordan and Jon Stewart in the Lantern series? And we got a whole lot 41 00:03:51,614 --> 00:03:54,857 of answers. Let's go ahead and run down our honorable mentions as well as the No Prize 42 00:03:54,897 --> 00:04:01,321 winner. Our first honorable mention goes to Jose Marcial, who said, For Hal Jordan, I would 43 00:04:01,422 --> 00:04:06,564 cast Josh Brolin since how Jordan is supposed to be older and more gruff in this version. 44 00:04:07,445 --> 00:04:15,749 And for Jon Stewart, I would cast David Johnson. He played Andy in Alien Romulus. He's like 45 00:04:15,949 --> 00:04:22,573 best part of that movie and he's a really good actor just from that role alone. And what was 46 00:04:22,633 --> 00:04:27,996 that other part of the question? So this may have been recorded before we received news 47 00:04:28,016 --> 00:04:32,447 that Josh Brolin has actually withdrawn his name. from the running for the character of 48 00:04:32,467 --> 00:04:37,450 Hal Jordan. So, you know, that's not gonna happen, although it wouldn't have been a terrible choice. 49 00:04:37,670 --> 00:04:43,575 As far as David Johnson goes, I have not seen Alien Romulus, but I've heard amazing things 50 00:04:43,635 --> 00:04:48,478 about the movie and his performance in particular. So this answer gets me pretty excited. Yeah, 51 00:04:48,518 --> 00:04:52,902 I was waiting to see Alien Romulus until I saw Alien Covenant, because I haven't seen that 52 00:04:52,942 --> 00:04:58,225 yet either. But I am super excited to see Alien Romulus. It looks really damn good. Of course, 53 00:04:58,466 --> 00:05:04,968 Jose did not get to an answer for Nova because no one cares. Nobody got time for a Nova answer. 54 00:05:05,508 --> 00:05:11,291 Actually, a lot of the callers this week didn't answer the full question with all three characters, 55 00:05:11,631 --> 00:05:17,073 Jon Stewart, Hal Jordan, and Richard Ryder. Only a few of them did, but not our next honorable 56 00:05:17,113 --> 00:05:22,576 mention, Miggy Mathingian, who said, Hey, what's up guys, this is Miggy. And even though it 57 00:05:22,596 --> 00:05:26,257 might be confusing for general audiences, from the short list, I would pick Chris Pine to 58 00:05:26,277 --> 00:05:33,013 play Hal Jordan. And then the Hollywood Reporter said that they would want a newer actor, younger 59 00:05:33,093 --> 00:05:37,756 actor to play John Stewart. So I would go with Malachi Kirby. Even though I haven't seen him 60 00:05:38,076 --> 00:05:45,081 play in anything, I've seen that he is like an award winning actor. So, and I think he's 61 00:05:45,101 --> 00:05:49,384 like a lesser known name. So yeah, Chris Pine and Malachi Kirby. Yeah. Miggi's concern is 62 00:05:49,424 --> 00:05:55,368 that audiences might find it confusing to see Chris Pine as Hal Jordan, considering he was 63 00:05:55,628 --> 00:06:00,759 very prominently Steve Trevor. in the Wonder Woman films. That said, I think he would make 64 00:06:00,939 --> 00:06:06,861 a great, damn near perfect Hal Jordan. The guy is a great actor, and you know, we've already 65 00:06:06,901 --> 00:06:12,844 seen that he could pull off the role of brave pilot. Yeah, I'm not sure how his role as Hal 66 00:06:12,884 --> 00:06:18,206 Jordan would differ too much from Steve Trevor from the Wonder Woman films, but I really like 67 00:06:18,226 --> 00:06:23,368 the answer of Malachi Kirby as Jon Stewart. In fact, I'm going to say don't get him for 68 00:06:23,408 --> 00:06:27,934 Jon Stewart and let's get him for the next Black Panther. Because... Dude could totally nail 69 00:06:27,954 --> 00:06:34,436 that role. Well too bad, cause Team DC already called dibs. Great answer, Miggy. Our next 70 00:06:34,476 --> 00:06:40,297 honorable mention goes to Daniel Alonso, who said, All right, I'm going to start making 71 00:06:40,317 --> 00:06:45,439 an effort to send a message in every week because y'all's new stuff is also great. So I'm gonna 72 00:06:45,459 --> 00:06:50,620 start off with a co-co-combo and answer last week's. My favorite episode is Hit Monkey versus 73 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:56,558 Gleek, funniest shit so far. Casting for Hal Jordan, I would go with Bradley Cooper. for 74 00:06:56,598 --> 00:07:02,039 Richard Rider, I would do Liam Hemsworth. And bonus, I would have cast Michael Fassbender 75 00:07:02,059 --> 00:07:06,801 as Dr. Doom. I believe he could have brought the gravitas that the role needed. All right, 76 00:07:06,841 --> 00:07:10,862 yeah, Daniel gave a few more answers than we asked. He also answered last week's question 77 00:07:10,922 --> 00:07:15,203 of, what's your favorite episode of Dynamic Duel? Thank you for doing that. I really like 78 00:07:15,223 --> 00:07:20,184 his answer of Bradley Cooper for Hal Jordan, though. Yeah, absolutely. I've always wanted 79 00:07:20,224 --> 00:07:26,230 to see Bradley Cooper take on a superhero role, and... To me, Hal Jordan makes the most sense 80 00:07:26,250 --> 00:07:31,311 for him. I know he's an actor who really likes to stretch his craft, so I'm not sure how attracted 81 00:07:31,331 --> 00:07:35,953 to that role he would be, but he would be amazing in it, absolutely. He would actually be my 82 00:07:35,993 --> 00:07:41,114 number one pick, I think. My number one dream casting, for sure. And Liam Hemsworth for Richard 83 00:07:41,154 --> 00:07:45,755 Ryder, I can see it working, you know, he looks awful lot like his brother Chris Hemsworth, 84 00:07:45,855 --> 00:07:50,357 who plays Thor, but I don't think that's too big of an issue, they can make their Richard 85 00:07:50,397 --> 00:07:54,278 Ryder look a little bit different by dying his hair or something. I don't know. but he definitely 86 00:07:54,738 --> 00:07:59,501 looks like Richard Ryder. So yeah, it could totally work. Yeah, I mean, as long as you 87 00:07:59,521 --> 00:08:05,724 keep Thor with a beard and Richard Ryder without a beard, it's fine. It works out. Yeah, I don't 88 00:08:05,744 --> 00:08:10,527 think you could pull off the Nova helmet with a beard. I don't think, which makes me sad 89 00:08:10,547 --> 00:08:16,230 because now I feel like I can never be Nova. You never could. We're gonna give a special 90 00:08:16,250 --> 00:08:21,373 thanks to Mason Thompson and Scott Camacho for calling in and leaving their answers. Scotty. 91 00:08:21,778 --> 00:08:27,542 your idea of casting Robert Downey Jr. as Richard Ryder was hilarious. I laughed my ass off. 92 00:08:28,562 --> 00:08:34,787 But the winner of this week's No Prize is Cyrus Moore, who said, Hey guys, Cyrus Moore here. 93 00:08:35,087 --> 00:08:41,592 So the perfect DC lanterns casting for Hal Jordan is Bradley Cooper, Shamar Moore for Jon Stewart, 94 00:08:42,032 --> 00:08:47,896 and I don't really know the Nova Corps very well, but I feel like Logan Lerman from The 95 00:08:47,956 --> 00:08:54,203 Maze Runner would make a pretty good Nova Corps member for Richard Ryder. But yeah, Bradley 96 00:08:54,243 --> 00:08:59,306 Cooper and Shamar Moore would be perfect choices to be lanterns. Thank you guys. Yeah, again, 97 00:08:59,346 --> 00:09:05,489 Bradley Cooper as Hal Jordan is the best possible outcome. Shamar Moore would actually make a 98 00:09:05,749 --> 00:09:10,391 perfect Jon Stewart if he was younger, I think. Shamar Moore, I think, has aged out of that 99 00:09:10,431 --> 00:09:15,966 role. But considering he had a long running role on the show, Criminal Minds. where he's 100 00:09:16,006 --> 00:09:20,290 kind of done this whole true detective style thing, which is what the lantern show is being 101 00:09:20,590 --> 00:09:25,835 compared to. Yeah, he would be great. And then Logan Lerman as Richard Ryder. I actually like 102 00:09:25,855 --> 00:09:30,379 this casting the best. Logan Lerman was actually not in the Maze Runner movie. That was Daniel 103 00:09:30,439 --> 00:09:36,044 O'Brien. Logan Lerman was Percy Jackson. He was in those films. But I remember his name 104 00:09:36,064 --> 00:09:40,708 was tossed around for Spider-Man back when they were casting for Spider-Man Homecoming and 105 00:09:40,728 --> 00:09:44,431 Tom Holland ended up getting the role. But I think that Logan Lerman definitely looks like 106 00:09:44,471 --> 00:09:47,773 Richard Rider from the comics and could totally pull it off. And the guy could act as well, 107 00:09:47,793 --> 00:09:52,617 like I remember seeing him in the Noah movie. And he did a fantastic job. But great answer, 108 00:09:52,637 --> 00:09:56,440 Cyrus Moore, you win this week's No Prize. If you the listener want a shot at winning your 109 00:09:56,540 --> 00:10:00,903 own No Prize, stay tuned to later on in this episode when we'll be asking another question 110 00:10:00,943 --> 00:10:04,205 of the week. And now that that's done, onto the news! 111 00:10:09,806 --> 00:10:14,667 This past week we got the final trailer for the Venom, the last dance movie that's coming 112 00:10:14,767 --> 00:10:19,508 out in October. It is the second major trailer that we've gotten for this film. And I have 113 00:10:19,528 --> 00:10:24,070 to say that actually this trailer impressed me a whole lot more than the first one. I think 114 00:10:24,110 --> 00:10:28,911 the first one I was being really whiny about it because I hate the title of the film and 115 00:10:29,451 --> 00:10:35,493 we weren't quite sure what was going on with the story. But you throw null in there and 116 00:10:35,573 --> 00:10:41,036 you got me hooked my friend. As soon as I saw that the main bad guy of this movie was not 117 00:10:41,076 --> 00:10:46,821 going to be Chiwetel Isheophore's Orwell Taylor, and that it was going to be null, I was blown 118 00:10:46,861 --> 00:10:51,024 away. That was the best case scenario. Yeah, all of a sudden the movie seems almost worth 119 00:10:51,104 --> 00:10:58,050 it. I'm not going to lie. I actually enjoyed this trailer. Like I did not expect to, but 120 00:10:58,490 --> 00:11:01,433 I don't know what it was. Just I don't know the music and just the relationship between 121 00:11:01,453 --> 00:11:07,237 the two characters. I just found it charming. I'm trying really hard not to get excited. 122 00:11:07,642 --> 00:11:12,605 at all for this movie because I don't want to be let down considering it's Sony who's making 123 00:11:12,625 --> 00:11:18,269 the film. But this was a good trailer. Well, we can all agree that Venom Let There Be Carnage 124 00:11:18,609 --> 00:11:25,874 sucked balls, right? It really sucked. The first Venom movie was not great, but it was novel 125 00:11:25,914 --> 00:11:30,578 for the way it portrayed the Eddie Brock Venom relationship. The relationship between those 126 00:11:30,598 --> 00:11:35,361 two characters is the best thing about this entire franchise. And the way the third trailer 127 00:11:35,401 --> 00:11:40,700 really sold the perhaps culmination of that relationship I thought was really enticing. 128 00:11:41,140 --> 00:11:46,623 I want to see how this story might end, if it does. I mean, like, both of the trailers that 129 00:11:46,643 --> 00:11:52,187 came out for this film have heavily alluded to the idea of Eddie Brock or Venom sacrificing 130 00:11:52,227 --> 00:11:56,629 themselves for the other. I'm totally not sold that that's gonna happen, but it's possible. 131 00:11:56,789 --> 00:12:02,213 You know, Tom Hardy may in fact want to pull a Logan and go out in style, you know, but 132 00:12:02,253 --> 00:12:06,512 I'm still really hoping that somehow... Venom ends up in a Spider-Man movie or vice versa. 133 00:12:06,992 --> 00:12:12,537 And, you know, not counting the stupid post credit stuff from No Way Home. But yeah, Null 134 00:12:12,657 --> 00:12:17,982 is going to be in this film. And for those of you who may not know who he is, he is the primordial 135 00:12:18,142 --> 00:12:23,867 deity who created the symbiotes. And he is a total badass. He was the main villain in the 136 00:12:23,887 --> 00:12:28,392 King and Black storyline from the comics, which was a great run. It was a great story. I highly 137 00:12:28,432 --> 00:12:32,627 suggest reading it. But he's a badass like. on the same level as Thanos. Like it took every 138 00:12:32,687 --> 00:12:37,390 single Marvel hero on Earth to defeat this guy. So it'll be interesting to see him going up 139 00:12:37,430 --> 00:12:43,114 against Venom in this film. Apparently he is the one that the symbiotes that came to Earth 140 00:12:43,154 --> 00:12:49,138 in the first movie were escaping from and he is the one who sends the xenophages down to 141 00:12:49,238 --> 00:12:53,381 Earth. Those are the creatures that attack Venom on the plane at the beginning of this trailer. 142 00:12:53,801 --> 00:12:58,565 But does Null ever come to Earth in the comics? He does, yeah, but they're probably going to 143 00:12:58,585 --> 00:13:04,112 have to nerf him a little bit. because he's insanely powerful. Like he could kill Celestials, 144 00:13:04,252 --> 00:13:08,615 if you guys remember Celestials from the Eternals movie. And here he's only going up against 145 00:13:08,675 --> 00:13:13,159 Venom. So they're probably gonna have to nerf him, which is a shame, but just to see him 146 00:13:13,239 --> 00:13:18,462 on screen will be worth it, I think. We don't know who's playing Null as of yet. There are 147 00:13:18,542 --> 00:13:23,366 some rumors going around that maybe Reese Ifans is gonna play him. And we do see Reese later 148 00:13:23,466 --> 00:13:28,409 on in this trailer, which is super confusing because the actor played Kurt Connors, the 149 00:13:28,489 --> 00:13:34,538 Lizard. in the amazing Spider-Man franchise. So it's weird to see him in this movie. Yeah, 150 00:13:34,578 --> 00:13:42,104 considering that Reese Ifans was recently seen in a MCU Spider-Man movie, I doubt that's the 151 00:13:42,185 --> 00:13:48,090 actor that's playing Null. Yeah. A lot of this movie takes place in Las Vegas. I bet you that's 152 00:13:48,110 --> 00:13:53,074 where the climax of the film is going to be. And there's this weird scene where Eddie and 153 00:13:53,114 --> 00:13:58,975 Venom steal a disguise from some guy wearing a suit. I don't know what's going on here in 154 00:13:58,995 --> 00:14:03,238 the scene. It almost looks like Eddie pees on him before Venom slaps the shit out of him. 155 00:14:03,358 --> 00:14:08,461 The guy pees on Eddie. Is that what happens? Yeah. Who the hell does that? That's so fucking 156 00:14:08,501 --> 00:14:13,865 weird. I hate that. Right. But also I hate it because Venom can change his appearance to 157 00:14:13,905 --> 00:14:18,008 match other clothing anyway. So why do they need to steal this guy's clothes? Doesn't make 158 00:14:18,048 --> 00:14:23,112 sense. Maybe they just stole a key or something like that. There was a whole section here where 159 00:14:23,192 --> 00:14:27,887 Venom is gambling and discovers the joys of. gambling and the addictive quality to it that 160 00:14:27,947 --> 00:14:33,032 I didn't need in a trailer. We'll say that could have been a funny and I put funny in quotes, 161 00:14:33,472 --> 00:14:37,695 gag for the movie. Didn't need to be in the trailer. Just wasted time. No, it was dumb. 162 00:14:37,816 --> 00:14:42,299 I never related to that feeling to begin with. Anytime I put money in a slot machine, it just 163 00:14:42,319 --> 00:14:49,685 goes right away. And I'm like, Oh, this is like, fuck. But no, I mean, the film, I think shows 164 00:14:49,745 --> 00:14:55,746 promise the inclusion of Null, the relationship between Eddie and Venom. I think that all looks 165 00:14:55,786 --> 00:15:01,348 fantastic. Those things alone are propping up my expectations for this film. I'm hoping at 166 00:15:01,408 --> 00:15:05,989 least it'll be better than Venom Let There Be Carnage, and I'm hoping it's as good as the 167 00:15:06,029 --> 00:15:10,791 first Venom film. But we'll find out in just over a month when this movie comes out on October 168 00:15:10,851 --> 00:15:16,233 25th. But with this trailer teasing that this may be the last appearance of Venom, that brings 169 00:15:16,293 --> 00:15:17,573 us to our question of the week. 170 00:15:22,030 --> 00:15:26,974 Do you think this should or shouldn't be Eddie Brock's and Venom's last appearance in Sony's 171 00:15:27,014 --> 00:15:32,338 Spider-Man universe, and why? Record your answer at dynamicduel.com by clicking on the red microphone 172 00:15:32,378 --> 00:15:36,001 button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, which will prompt you to leave us a 173 00:15:36,061 --> 00:15:40,685 voicemail. Your message could be up to 30 seconds long, and don't forget to leave your name in 174 00:15:40,705 --> 00:15:45,068 case we include you on the podcast. We'll pick our favorite answer, and award that person 175 00:15:45,169 --> 00:15:51,622 a dynamic duel no prize that we'll post to Instagram. Be sure to answer before September 21st. But 176 00:15:51,682 --> 00:15:57,183 speaking of the Sony Spider-Man universe, we also learned this past week that Destin Daniel 177 00:15:57,203 --> 00:16:03,645 Cretton is in talks to direct Spider-Man 4. Now Destin Daniel Cretton is the director behind 178 00:16:03,825 --> 00:16:09,506 the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings film and the upcoming Wonder Man series. And 179 00:16:09,666 --> 00:16:15,388 Marvel loves this guy. He's a fantastic director. I really loved the Shang-Chi film. And I'm 180 00:16:15,448 --> 00:16:20,409 actually really excited about this news because I think he can knock Spider-Man 4 out of the 181 00:16:20,449 --> 00:16:26,232 park. The one downside to this is that it means that a Shang-Chi sequel is likely going to 182 00:16:26,252 --> 00:16:32,195 be put on a back burner, which breaks my heart because that franchise deserves better. Yeah, 183 00:16:32,255 --> 00:16:37,617 I'm actually really surprised we haven't received a Shang-Chi sequel yet. I am happy for Destin 184 00:16:37,637 --> 00:16:41,279 Daniel Cretton though, considering the fact that he was kicked off the upcoming Avengers 185 00:16:41,299 --> 00:16:47,106 movie. This is not a terrible consolation. No, you're absolutely right. Now- Shang-Chi the 186 00:16:47,146 --> 00:16:52,470 character was rumored to play a heavy part in the King Dynasty film back when that was a 187 00:16:52,530 --> 00:16:57,954 thing. Ever since the conviction of Jonathan Majors and his subsequent firing from Marvel 188 00:16:57,994 --> 00:17:03,338 Studios, you know, they had to rework Avengers the King Dynasty into Avengers Doomsday. And 189 00:17:03,358 --> 00:17:08,322 it's not quite sure if Shang-Chi is still going to play a prominent role within that film because 190 00:17:08,362 --> 00:17:13,065 Destin Daniel Cretton was originally attached to direct the King Dynasty and it was stated 191 00:17:13,105 --> 00:17:17,849 that the film was going to be a quasi-sequel for Shang-Chi, which is why they hadn't made 192 00:17:17,869 --> 00:17:23,594 a whole lot of movement on a Shang-Chi sequel. So now, because reports are saying that the 193 00:17:23,634 --> 00:17:27,897 Spider-Man movie is being fast-tracked, like they're hoping to write the film and start 194 00:17:27,937 --> 00:17:32,021 shooting it as early as next year, Destin Daniel Cran is not going to be able to get to Shang-Chi 195 00:17:32,061 --> 00:17:36,705 for a while. My hope is that maybe they'll be able to squeeze Shang-Chi into the Spider-Man 196 00:17:36,745 --> 00:17:42,001 4 film. since those characters have teamed up in the comics before, and since the MCU Spider-Man 197 00:17:42,041 --> 00:17:48,267 franchise has often included cameos from other MCU heroes, such as Iron Man in Homecoming, 198 00:17:48,647 --> 00:17:53,432 Nick Fury in Far From Home, and Doctor Strange in No Way Home. Yeah, that'd be cool to get 199 00:17:53,452 --> 00:17:57,635 like a different cameo for each Spider-Man movie, I like that. Yeah, the Spider-Man movies could 200 00:17:57,675 --> 00:18:02,940 almost be treated like the Marvel team-up comic book series, which Spider-Man was often the 201 00:18:02,980 --> 00:18:08,785 star teaming up with other. lesser known characters. One of our executive producers, Devin Davis, 202 00:18:08,945 --> 00:18:15,050 had the idea that Spider-Man 4 would largely focus on the Black Cat storyline since reports 203 00:18:15,090 --> 00:18:18,853 are also saying that Zendaya is not going to have a huge role in Spider-Man 4, which makes 204 00:18:18,914 --> 00:18:24,138 sense considering where they left the franchise off in No Way Home. And I think introducing 205 00:18:24,178 --> 00:18:30,383 Black Cat is the next logical step for the franchise. Devin Davis suggested that could mean that 206 00:18:30,403 --> 00:18:35,279 she's working for Kingpin and then you could have Daredevil be the superhero team up and 207 00:18:35,459 --> 00:18:40,782 I think I like that idea even more. So everything's just looking bad for Shang-Chi. I feel bad 208 00:18:40,802 --> 00:18:46,866 for the actor Simu Liu because he was a great Shang-Chi and I feel like he deserves better 209 00:18:46,906 --> 00:18:52,189 than this deal that he's getting. Maybe by the time they do make a Shang-Chi sequel, China 210 00:18:52,229 --> 00:18:58,213 will have calmed the F down and let that film be released in their country. We'll see. One 211 00:18:58,253 --> 00:18:58,733 can only hope. 212 00:19:06,414 --> 00:19:10,399 That is it for all the news for this week, now let's move on to the main event of this episode 213 00:19:10,759 --> 00:19:18,469 when we review the Amazon exclusive DC animated series, Batman Caped Crusader Season 1. 214 00:19:33,602 --> 00:19:39,046 Okay, Batman Kid Crusader is a new animated series developed by Bruce Timm and produced 215 00:19:39,126 --> 00:19:46,393 by J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves. It is a reimagining of sorts of Bruce Timm's beloved animated series 216 00:19:46,673 --> 00:19:52,598 that us 90s kids used to watch every day after school and on Saturday mornings. This series, 217 00:19:52,638 --> 00:19:59,424 however, is unhindered by concerns over network marketability, allowing for a more mature psychological 218 00:19:59,524 --> 00:20:05,672 and progressive take. on the familiar characters within the Batman mythos. And while I'd hesitate 219 00:20:05,692 --> 00:20:10,895 to say it's an improvement upon the 90s series in the same way that the recent X-Men 97 series 220 00:20:10,955 --> 00:20:16,739 was over that childhood favorite, Caped Crusader's retro aesthetics and intriguing interpretations 221 00:20:16,859 --> 00:20:22,902 do make it a worthwhile and standout addition to Batman's vast library of animated content. 222 00:20:23,343 --> 00:20:28,506 Since the primary appeal of the series really is how it interprets its characters, If you 223 00:20:28,546 --> 00:20:34,990 haven't seen the show and want to avoid spoilers, stop listening now. Watch the show, then come 224 00:20:35,010 --> 00:20:39,873 back and listen to our thoughts because we will be delving into spoilers. Yeah, anyone who 225 00:20:39,893 --> 00:20:44,677 was a fan of the 90s Batman, the animated series cartoon, I think owes it to themselves to check 226 00:20:44,697 --> 00:20:50,040 this show out. But I think it goes even harder into the hardboiled elements of the Batman 227 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:55,900 comics when they first came out. Oh absolutely, for sure. It's much more in that classic noir 228 00:20:56,060 --> 00:21:02,063 style. It's very hard boiled, very stripped down, very classic Batman, which is nice. Now 229 00:21:02,103 --> 00:21:07,626 I wouldn't say this is a must-see Batman series though. The main appeal of it isn't necessarily 230 00:21:07,686 --> 00:21:13,689 Batman, but the creators behind the show. From Bruce Timm's classic design and strong storytelling 231 00:21:13,749 --> 00:21:18,935 sense, to J.J. Abrams' talent for bringing new life to established properties, to Matt Reeves' 232 00:21:18,955 --> 00:21:24,158 gritty and realistic understanding of the character evidenced in his 2022 film, The Batman, to 233 00:21:24,178 --> 00:21:29,260 the involvement of some of the comic industry's best writers in Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka. 234 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:35,002 Fans knew this was going to be something special, going all the way back to 2014's Strange Days 235 00:21:35,122 --> 00:21:40,705 animated short that Bruce Timm made for Batman's 75th anniversary, which served as a launchpad 236 00:21:40,805 --> 00:21:45,963 for this series' visual aesthetic. Can I just say that when I saw the names behind the show, 237 00:21:45,983 --> 00:21:49,845 because I had no idea, right? I knew that Bruce Timm was behind the show, but I didn't know 238 00:21:49,966 --> 00:21:55,029 that Matt Reeves was producing. I think I knew that JJ Abrams was producing, but that's still 239 00:21:55,049 --> 00:21:59,431 a huge name to see for this cartoon. And then all of a sudden I saw Ed Brubaker and Greg 240 00:21:59,471 --> 00:22:03,294 Rucka, and I'm like, what the fuck is this? Is this gonna be the best show of all time? 241 00:22:03,574 --> 00:22:11,054 Right? Man, I was truly impressed by the names behind this series. 110%. I'd go so far as 242 00:22:11,094 --> 00:22:16,440 to say that between the creators involved and the success of X-Men 97 and my excitement over 243 00:22:16,460 --> 00:22:21,445 the show's mid-20th century design approach, I thought this show was going to be the ultimate 244 00:22:21,525 --> 00:22:27,051 Batman series, and this is probably a solid example of why you should temper your expectations 245 00:22:27,592 --> 00:22:32,237 going into any project involving a character that's near and dear to your heart. It was 246 00:22:32,257 --> 00:22:38,411 just so d- different, not in a bad way, just a mildly unsatisfactory way. A way I should 247 00:22:38,431 --> 00:22:42,332 have seen coming when they started revealing things like their new take on Harley Quinn. 248 00:22:42,792 --> 00:22:48,594 I didn't realize this show was going to be as Elseworlds, for lack of a better word, as it 249 00:22:48,654 --> 00:22:54,496 was. Yeah, they changed a lot of things, right? For better or for worse, I didn't mind a lot 250 00:22:54,536 --> 00:22:58,917 of the changes they had here, but I think we could both agree that they fucked up the Penguin. 251 00:22:59,037 --> 00:23:04,424 You know, honestly? I did not hate their take on the penguin. I thought I was going to. Some 252 00:23:04,444 --> 00:23:08,486 of the new takes that they did on the characters that could be considered controversial because 253 00:23:08,526 --> 00:23:13,109 they race bent or gender bent the characters like Barbara Gordon or the penguin, I didn't 254 00:23:13,129 --> 00:23:18,552 mind. I was surprised I didn't hate Oswalda the female penguin because it was well done, 255 00:23:18,732 --> 00:23:24,815 I thought. That question of why was pretty much cast aside once I understood the Elseworlds 256 00:23:24,895 --> 00:23:29,377 vibe of the show. I tend to be a little bit more forgiving of how characters are handled. 257 00:23:29,682 --> 00:23:34,783 and else world stories like the doom that came to Gotham or Red Sun, because I understand 258 00:23:34,843 --> 00:23:40,845 it's what if type nature. As a general rule, I don't mind race bending or gender bending 259 00:23:41,065 --> 00:23:45,946 as long as, you know, they're true to the character. But Oswalda Cobblepot was nothing like the 260 00:23:45,986 --> 00:23:49,267 Penguin as any of us know. It was almost an entirely different character. She was like 261 00:23:49,287 --> 00:23:55,488 a big mama type mobster. Yeah, I've never seen the Penguin do a song and dance number at the 262 00:23:55,569 --> 00:24:02,991 Iceberg Lounge. That was pretty wild. Cabaret number. Oh, God. I bleach. But you know, expectations 263 00:24:03,052 --> 00:24:08,314 aside, I thought the show did a terrific job at for the most part reintroducing us to familiar 264 00:24:08,354 --> 00:24:15,038 characters episode by episode. I was 100% tuned in to each episode and eager for the next one 265 00:24:15,058 --> 00:24:20,681 in the same way I used to be watching the 90s cartoon as a kid. I love film noir detective 266 00:24:20,701 --> 00:24:26,664 stories. I love mid 20th century design. I love dark psychological examinations of characters. 267 00:24:27,125 --> 00:24:32,234 So yeah, this show hooked me. I watched the entire thing in less than 24 hours. And like 268 00:24:32,294 --> 00:24:36,336 I said, I like what they did with a lot of the characters. Not all of it worked like I would 269 00:24:36,356 --> 00:24:42,377 say on Amada Pia or the Robin characters, but a lot of them like Clayface or Nocturna or 270 00:24:42,397 --> 00:24:47,059 the Gentleman Ghost felt like they came straight out of a Tales from the Crypt horror-esque 271 00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:52,660 Elseworlds version of the DC universe. And keeping your eye out for obscure cameos from characters 272 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:54,441 like Jim Corrigan or Floyd 273 00:24:57,558 --> 00:25:02,422 for sure. I really liked the anthological take on this. While the series wasn't entirely anthological 274 00:25:02,442 --> 00:25:06,385 because you had the Harvey Dent through line, a lot of these episodes were one-offs. Yeah, 275 00:25:06,405 --> 00:25:10,969 that's one thing I really liked about the old 90s cartoon was its anthological nature. For 276 00:25:11,009 --> 00:25:15,233 the most part, every episode Batman would tackle a new villain or a new conflict that would 277 00:25:15,253 --> 00:25:19,877 get wrapped up by the end of the episode. And while this series did have some overarching 278 00:25:19,977 --> 00:25:25,903 conflicts, It was more anthological than many current shows. I'll always argue that long-form 279 00:25:25,943 --> 00:25:30,604 storytelling is superior, and one of the reasons I love the serialized nature of comic books. 280 00:25:30,924 --> 00:25:35,106 But there's something to be said for short, quick stories as well. And this show definitely 281 00:25:35,186 --> 00:25:40,147 satisfied a nostalgic itch that I hadn't realized I had. I mentioned that it was kind of fun 282 00:25:40,227 --> 00:25:45,229 looking out for obscure characters in this season. That said, I would have much rather seen new 283 00:25:45,249 --> 00:25:49,979 takes on less obscure characters because... I feel like those are kind of easy. I was much 284 00:25:50,019 --> 00:25:56,182 more impressed by this new take on Harley Quinn than I was on, say, Gentleman Ghost. I think 285 00:25:56,202 --> 00:26:00,085 it would have been much more of a challenge to come up with psychological rich takes on 286 00:26:00,105 --> 00:26:05,168 characters like Poison Ivy or Mr. Freeze. So I'm looking forward to seeing them in subsequent 287 00:26:05,208 --> 00:26:09,710 seasons, if they make them, you know, along with the Joker, who at the end of this season 288 00:26:09,830 --> 00:26:11,912 was teased in a man- manner, which... 289 00:26:15,614 --> 00:26:21,159 Yes, please. Back when Batman Begins came out, which was a much more grounded, gritty take 290 00:26:21,259 --> 00:26:25,102 on the character in a way that audiences weren't used to seeing because we were used to like 291 00:26:25,122 --> 00:26:30,547 the Schumacher films and stuff like that. Grounding things in reality kind of became popular for 292 00:26:30,567 --> 00:26:36,012 a while. The ideas were if you take the character and you remove the fantastical elements and 293 00:26:36,052 --> 00:26:39,815 imagine what it would be like if this thing actually existed in reality, that's what they 294 00:26:39,835 --> 00:26:44,046 did on this Caped Crusader show for the most part. minus the supernatural episodes with 295 00:26:44,066 --> 00:26:49,488 the gentlemen ghost and the carnival and things like that. It was really cool to see those 296 00:26:49,548 --> 00:26:54,509 ideas take shape in a more grounded, gritty way. Because it totally fits the world of Batman. 297 00:26:54,729 --> 00:26:58,750 And yeah, I would love to see how they would approach more fantastical characters like Poison 298 00:26:58,810 --> 00:27:03,211 Ivy, like Mr. Freeze. I think that would be really neat. Yeah, I really hope they do more 299 00:27:03,251 --> 00:27:07,833 seasons of this show because that would be amazing to see. Now listeners of this podcast may have 300 00:27:07,853 --> 00:27:13,487 heard me complain about Bruce Tim's figure design. I praised the Tomorrowverse for moving away 301 00:27:13,747 --> 00:27:18,831 from that Bruce Tim style and showing us something less templated than decades past. This show 302 00:27:18,871 --> 00:27:25,195 moves back toward that style, though it does mix it up a little bit more than in the past. 303 00:27:25,536 --> 00:27:31,019 I actually didn't need chunkier versions of characters like Renee Montoya or Harley Quinn. 304 00:27:31,980 --> 00:27:35,943 It literally looked like they just took the female character model and increased the width. 305 00:27:40,594 --> 00:27:45,858 Yeah, in a nostalgic way. But, you know, everything just felt a little bit cleaner and more varied 306 00:27:46,038 --> 00:27:50,681 and a little bit more modern, too. I would definitely agree that it looked cleaner. I thought it 307 00:27:50,741 --> 00:27:56,426 actually looked a little bit older in terms of the design than the 90s series. Like the 308 00:27:56,906 --> 00:28:01,670 90s series had much more streamlined buildings, I felt. And this one was a little bit more 309 00:28:01,770 --> 00:28:07,134 vintage, I would say. Honestly, you know, I'm spoiled after Suicide Squad, Isekai. Again, 310 00:28:07,234 --> 00:28:11,856 as we mentioned in that review, that was probably the best animated work out of any animated 311 00:28:11,896 --> 00:28:19,200 DC project ever. So to go from that to this was like, oh, more Bruce Tim. Yay. But I've 312 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:23,823 mentioned characters a lot. Let's go ahead and move into our character breakdown, starting 313 00:28:23,903 --> 00:28:30,407 with Batman Bruce Wayne. He was voiced by Hamish Linklater, known for his work on the new adventures 314 00:28:30,427 --> 00:28:37,423 of Old Christine, Legion, Midnight Mass and Manhunt. Don't think the dichotomy between 315 00:28:37,463 --> 00:28:42,926 his Bruce Wayne and Batman voice was as successful as Kevin Conroy. I didn't think it was terrible 316 00:28:43,026 --> 00:28:48,229 either. His Batman voice sounded to me like a mixture between Kevin Conroy's authoritative 317 00:28:48,269 --> 00:28:54,193 approach and Christian Bale's growl. He did a fantastic job. Now, most Batman animated 318 00:28:54,233 --> 00:29:00,637 voice actors are largely doing a Kevin Conroy impression and this is no exception. I do think 319 00:29:00,817 --> 00:29:06,037 to that end, I... prefer other animated voices like what Jensen Ackles did in the Tomorrowverse. 320 00:29:06,297 --> 00:29:10,941 Yeah, I would agree. But this was entirely passable. I was impressed by the job that Hamish Linklater 321 00:29:10,961 --> 00:29:16,386 was able to do. I'd say like after Conroy, he's my third or fourth favorite Batman voice. Yeah, 322 00:29:16,406 --> 00:29:20,709 that sounds about right. I do think that Hamish Linklater would make a fantastic live-action 323 00:29:20,749 --> 00:29:25,193 Batman, considering the guy's a pretty good actor. I would have much rather seen him as 324 00:29:25,253 --> 00:29:32,259 Bruce Wayne than fucking Ian Glenn in the Titan series. Hahaha, yeah. It's occasionally a challenge 325 00:29:32,279 --> 00:29:37,722 for writers to make Batman stand out against, arguably, literature's most intriguing and 326 00:29:37,762 --> 00:29:43,446 colorful rogues gallery. This series definitely suffers on that front. I felt like Batman actually 327 00:29:43,466 --> 00:29:48,210 got less screen time in each episode than I thought he would, though honestly, maybe about 328 00:29:48,250 --> 00:29:53,353 the same amount as the 90s cartoon. I'm not 100% on that. When he did appear though, they 329 00:29:53,373 --> 00:29:57,816 made the most of his appearances, as stripped down as the character was for the show. He 330 00:29:57,856 --> 00:30:02,474 wasn't big on martial arts, but he had a fair number of gadgets and it was a decent showcase 331 00:30:02,494 --> 00:30:07,136 for his detective work. Well, I feel like they could have maybe take it away from some of 332 00:30:07,196 --> 00:30:13,018 the screen time that the villains got each episode in order to show more of his detective work 333 00:30:13,158 --> 00:30:19,520 processes. Absolutely, yeah, they could have 100%. The show hints that Bruce Wayne may be 334 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:24,381 as insane as his villains, you know, focused less on justice and more on punishing criminals. 335 00:30:24,521 --> 00:30:28,839 As evidenced, when he lied to the police as a kid saying he didn't see the face of the 336 00:30:28,879 --> 00:30:33,461 man who killed his parents. Followed by him appearing in Alfred's room that night telling 337 00:30:33,621 --> 00:30:40,143 him that Gotham's criminals are all going to suffer. I was like, dang! Get this kid a therapist. 338 00:30:41,124 --> 00:30:45,946 Exactly. But I also liked that approach for the character. Like, Batman should be psychologically 339 00:30:46,006 --> 00:30:50,748 dark and traumatized. It was actually kind of fascinating to me that Bruce Wayne didn't blink 340 00:30:51,028 --> 00:30:58,131 once this entire show. Wait, what? Really? Yeah. Oh, creepy. Super, actually. Um, but I did 341 00:30:58,171 --> 00:31:02,053 like how this series showed that Bruce Wayne is doing something to help Gotham besides punish 342 00:31:02,093 --> 00:31:06,816 criminals though, like the new housing development just outside the city, you know, it kind of 343 00:31:06,916 --> 00:31:11,919 addresses the criticism that SNL made that he just beats up poor people. Now he comes into 344 00:31:11,939 --> 00:31:16,702 conflict with Alfred consistently throughout the show, calling him Pennyworth and talking 345 00:31:16,762 --> 00:31:22,426 back to him like a teenager would, Bruce is definitely an angry person in the show. But 346 00:31:22,466 --> 00:31:26,388 by the end of the season, he comes to realize how much Alfred means to him and refers to 347 00:31:26,428 --> 00:31:32,093 him as Alfred for the first time. Speaking of Alfred Pennyworth, he was voiced by Jason Watkins, 348 00:31:32,173 --> 00:31:37,496 who's a British television actor. I thought he did a great job acting as a demure Alfred, 349 00:31:37,837 --> 00:31:43,281 who seems to be guilt-driven in the series into being less of a father figure, as he's typically 350 00:31:43,321 --> 00:31:49,665 depicted, and more of an enabler, like he just can't say no to Bruce. It's a fresh take on 351 00:31:49,725 --> 00:31:55,240 Alfred. and not one that I hated by any means, because I can see it making sense for the character. 352 00:31:55,520 --> 00:32:00,623 And he was still a good man and a good example, ultimately, for Bruce. He was still trying 353 00:32:00,643 --> 00:32:05,506 to be as conscious. Alfred's always the one trying to pull back Batman from the brink of 354 00:32:05,526 --> 00:32:11,889 the abyss. But here, with how early Bruce Wayne started showing signs of psychosis, you would 355 00:32:11,929 --> 00:32:16,252 think that Alfred should have done a better job of getting this kid some help. Because 356 00:32:16,432 --> 00:32:22,779 he seemed afraid, honestly, of Bruce Wayne. Yeah. Right. I thought the same thing. Alright, 357 00:32:22,799 --> 00:32:27,121 tackling Commissioner James Gordon and Barbara Gordon simultaneously, they were voiced by 358 00:32:27,341 --> 00:32:33,543 Eric Morgan Stewart and Crystal Joy Brown respectively. Barbara Gordon was reimagined as a lawyer for 359 00:32:33,563 --> 00:32:37,885 this series, which I thought was a brilliant way to keep her story tied into her father's 360 00:32:38,025 --> 00:32:43,388 and Harvey Dent's. You know, Barbara is an idealist, which often brings her into conflict with Commissioner 361 00:32:43,428 --> 00:32:48,578 Gordon, who's more of a cynic, but one still trying to help the city. Together, They make 362 00:32:48,598 --> 00:32:52,799 a pretty great pair, I thought, and I can't wait to see how Barbara evolves into a costumed 363 00:32:52,860 --> 00:32:58,682 crime fighter like Batman. If they decide to go that route. Right. Yeah, they may not. Since 364 00:32:58,722 --> 00:33:03,304 this is still early days for Batman, he and Commissioner Gordon aren't allies at the start 365 00:33:03,344 --> 00:33:08,486 of the show. But as the season progresses, Commissioner Gordon realizes that Batman is trying to help, 366 00:33:08,566 --> 00:33:13,489 particularly when they worked together to save kids from a burning apartment building, which 367 00:33:13,549 --> 00:33:18,023 was one of my favorite episodes in the series. Yeah, I thought this is one of the most organic 368 00:33:18,103 --> 00:33:23,727 ways that I've seen them build up the Commissioner Gordon Batman relationship outside of like 369 00:33:23,847 --> 00:33:30,071 Batman Year One, which was a great story. Yeah. But like even in the Batman movie, Commissioner 370 00:33:30,111 --> 00:33:35,155 Gordon and Batman are already copacetic from the get go, right? Right. It's nice to have 371 00:33:35,195 --> 00:33:39,918 this long running narrative where you see that relationship of trust slowly develop. I thought 372 00:33:39,938 --> 00:33:43,500 it was really well done here. Yeah, I would say it was better done here than it was in, 373 00:33:43,721 --> 00:33:48,554 you know, even Batman Begins. much more organic, like you said. Moving on to the last character 374 00:33:48,574 --> 00:33:53,776 I'm going to go over, Renee Montoya. She was voiced by Michelle C. Bonilla. She does a lot 375 00:33:53,876 --> 00:33:58,317 of the heavy lifting when it comes to detective work for the GCPD. I actually really liked 376 00:33:58,357 --> 00:34:02,678 how good of a detective she was shown to be, you know, just by asking the right questions. 377 00:34:03,198 --> 00:34:07,480 She proves herself more and more as the season progresses, confirming the trust that Commissioner 378 00:34:07,500 --> 00:34:12,221 Gordon put on her to be a leader within the corrupt police department. I actually thought 379 00:34:12,361 --> 00:34:16,611 that by introducing her in the Clayface episode, that they were going to lead her into using 380 00:34:16,691 --> 00:34:21,515 some of the makeup putty to begin her like faceless career as the question, but that ended up not 381 00:34:21,575 --> 00:34:25,017 being the case. That would have been cool though. That would have been really cool. 382 00:34:32,262 --> 00:34:38,324 fantasies collide and heroes clash, one podcast network rises above the rest. Prepare yourself 383 00:34:38,524 --> 00:34:44,647 for the ultimate showdowns in comic books, video games, movies, and anime. The Dynomic Podcast 384 00:34:44,687 --> 00:34:51,858 Network presents Console Combat, where video game legends brawl every Monday. Comic Book 385 00:34:51,898 --> 00:34:58,061 Titans smash every Tuesday. Max Destruction, where TV and action heroes battle every Wednesday. 386 00:34:58,621 --> 00:35:04,544 And Sendro World, where anime champions clash every Thursday. Join us as we speculate on 387 00:35:04,564 --> 00:35:10,267 the matches and armed with the power of mathematical simulations, discover who will emerge victorious. 388 00:35:10,807 --> 00:35:15,069 Visit dynamicpodcast.com where we settle the debate and settle the score. 389 00:35:19,438 --> 00:35:25,661 Moving on to the story highlights, episode 1 was titled In Treacherous Waters. Oswalda Cobblepot, 390 00:35:25,801 --> 00:35:30,424 owner and singer of the Iceberg Lounge, has been making a name for herself in Gotham City's 391 00:35:30,464 --> 00:35:35,146 criminal underworld as the Penguin while trying to eliminate her mob boss rival Rupert Thorne 392 00:35:35,486 --> 00:35:40,409 by destroying his organization's warehouses. However, Thorne survives with help from a leak 393 00:35:40,449 --> 00:35:45,832 in her circle. Believing it is her youngest son, Eren, Oswalda kills him. However, her 394 00:35:45,932 --> 00:35:51,395 eldest son, and the real source, Ronald, seeks out Gotham City's police department, Commissioner 395 00:35:51,455 --> 00:35:56,238 James Gordon, for protection. With help from Jim's daughter Barbara Gordon and a mysterious 396 00:35:56,278 --> 00:36:02,781 vigilante called the Batman, Ronald safely reaches the GCPD, but Aswalda launches a missile to 397 00:36:02,821 --> 00:36:08,905 destroy the police station. Unbeknownst to her, the station is evacuated before it is destroyed. 398 00:36:09,325 --> 00:36:14,828 Batman successfully captures Aswalda, but realizes later that in doing so, he left a power vacuum 399 00:36:14,868 --> 00:36:19,706 in Gotham's underworld for Thorne to fill. This was a great setup to the series, you know, 400 00:36:19,726 --> 00:36:24,729 with the whole power vacuum angle and the destruction of the GCPD headquarters. I mean, it wasn't 401 00:36:24,849 --> 00:36:30,271 too much of a issue in such like episodes, but I thought that it was a really good setup. 402 00:36:30,651 --> 00:36:34,833 For sure. Yeah, I thought this was a great episode, a great introduction to Batman when we first 403 00:36:34,853 --> 00:36:39,335 see him interrogating that guy over the train tracks. Oh, yeah. I thought it was a perfect 404 00:36:39,355 --> 00:36:46,070 Batman moment, honestly. And I thought to myself, is 1940s Batman peak Batman? when he's able 405 00:36:46,110 --> 00:36:52,334 to operate freely in this very pulpy style? Uh, you know, honestly, in my opinion, and 406 00:36:52,354 --> 00:36:58,799 this may be a controversial opinion, 1940s Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, that's all peak those 407 00:36:58,839 --> 00:37:04,723 characters. Really? Explain. I feel like those are like the truest essence of those characters. 408 00:37:05,143 --> 00:37:10,427 They kind of get muddled down by continuity and stuff in later decades. But if you go back 409 00:37:10,467 --> 00:37:15,411 to like the spirit of the characters as they were first conceived, I think that is the best 410 00:37:15,511 --> 00:37:20,015 version of them. I think you could say that for a lot of characters actually, even over 411 00:37:20,035 --> 00:37:26,020 at Marvel. As the years go on and the characters evolve over time, I think the expectation from 412 00:37:26,060 --> 00:37:31,485 a lot of fans is that they always still revert to their roots. And it's always nice when characters 413 00:37:31,505 --> 00:37:37,530 are brought back to what made them who they are. Yeah, I mean, DC characters are so pure 414 00:37:37,810 --> 00:37:43,855 in, you know, there's symbolism and their archetype that Things don't really make sense in a postmodern 415 00:37:43,915 --> 00:37:49,458 world. These characters come from a different era. And so you see comics like Watchmen kind 416 00:37:49,498 --> 00:37:56,122 of making fun of the very notion of the superhero. But back then, it made sense. The next episode 417 00:37:56,142 --> 00:38:02,026 was titled, And Be a Villain. GCPD detective Renee Montoya is assigned to locate missing 418 00:38:02,146 --> 00:38:08,049 actress Yvonne Francis. Following a failed interrogation of Bruce Wayne, she investigates the film studio. 419 00:38:08,470 --> 00:38:13,892 where she learns Francis's fellow actor Basil Carlo may have been lying about his alibi. 420 00:38:14,292 --> 00:38:19,254 However, he is seemingly murdered before she can confirm. Upon further investigation, she 421 00:38:19,294 --> 00:38:24,676 learns Carlo was ashamed of his face, which led him to be typecasted and Francis rejecting 422 00:38:24,716 --> 00:38:31,159 his advances. Ultimately, he used an experimental serum to make his face more malleable. Montoya 423 00:38:31,199 --> 00:38:36,001 and Batman eventually stumble across Carlo, who faked his death and kidnapped Francis out 424 00:38:36,041 --> 00:38:41,332 of a desire to play a villain for real. Montoya rescues Francis while Batman defeats Carlo 425 00:38:41,732 --> 00:38:47,076 and disappears before Montoya can apprehend him. Such a fantastic take on the character 426 00:38:47,116 --> 00:38:51,038 of Clayface. I feel like, you know, Clayface in recent years has really had an opportunity 427 00:38:51,078 --> 00:38:57,363 to shine in shows like Harley Quinn or Suicide Squad Isekai. But this is probably hands down 428 00:38:57,403 --> 00:39:03,727 my favorite version of the character. Taking like a Boris Karloff approach to Basil Carlo 429 00:39:03,747 --> 00:39:10,022 Clayface was pure genius. Well, that's really in keeping with his original story in the comic 430 00:39:10,042 --> 00:39:16,504 books, right? Very true. In the comics, Clayface wasn't like this huge turd monster. He was 431 00:39:16,544 --> 00:39:20,746 actually just a serial killer who disguised his face. This version of the character, I 432 00:39:20,766 --> 00:39:24,727 think, was the best of both worlds, though. For sure. It is weird, though, seeing this 433 00:39:24,767 --> 00:39:30,148 version of Clayface coming off of the back of Suicide Squad Isakai. Yeah. Who was a very, 434 00:39:30,528 --> 00:39:35,686 very different version of Clayface. Well, from any media, to be fair. It's just interesting, 435 00:39:35,766 --> 00:39:40,328 I guess, how adaptable the character can be, which I guess is not so surprising because 436 00:39:40,388 --> 00:39:46,210 he is clayface. He is adaptable, if anything. Episode 3 was titled, Kiss of the Catwoman. 437 00:39:46,630 --> 00:39:51,793 At a museum displaying Gotham's elite jewels, Bruce encounters an heiress named Selena Kyle, 438 00:39:52,133 --> 00:39:57,175 who has an interest in his late mother Martha Wayne's pearls. He is later ordered to attend 439 00:39:57,255 --> 00:40:01,977 a month of therapy with Dr. Harleen Quinzel after assaulting a patron who insulted his 440 00:40:02,017 --> 00:40:08,778 parents. Kyle resorts to jewel theft after being left in debt, adopting the Catwoman persona. 441 00:40:09,278 --> 00:40:13,842 After being caught and outed by Batman, she takes inspiration from him by upgrading her 442 00:40:13,882 --> 00:40:19,266 car and using gadgets before Gotham's District Attorney Harvey Dent bails her out, allowing 443 00:40:19,306 --> 00:40:24,791 her to resume her crime spree. Deducing Kyle will try and steal Martha's pearls, Bruce orders 444 00:40:24,831 --> 00:40:30,175 the museum to close early to luring Catwoman, who is eventually caught once more and left 445 00:40:30,215 --> 00:40:35,624 destitute upon learning her maid Greta. sold her belongings and refuses to bail her out. 446 00:40:35,945 --> 00:40:41,730 I loved Greta. I loved the idea of Catwoman having a butler like Alfred who's, you know, 447 00:40:41,830 --> 00:40:47,596 kind of petty. That was great. This was a fantastic episode. I really liked Christina Ricci's performance 448 00:40:47,656 --> 00:40:51,980 as Catwoman as well. The character design was very much in keeping with her first appearance 449 00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:56,723 in the comics and While there wasn't like enough romantic tension, I think, between the two, 450 00:40:56,883 --> 00:41:00,845 I still really liked the moments that they shared together. Now, it was actually the first appearance 451 00:41:00,865 --> 00:41:05,927 because the first appearance of Catwoman wore an actual like cat's furry face, but it was 452 00:41:05,947 --> 00:41:11,270 definitely inspired by early versions of the character. It's not a design that I love, but 453 00:41:11,590 --> 00:41:16,312 it works within this world. Right. Like it doesn't make sense for her to wear high heels and a 454 00:41:16,372 --> 00:41:22,559 dress. Right. Or a cape. That's bizarre. I did like that she was very heavily inspired by 455 00:41:22,639 --> 00:41:27,582 Batman though. It was a great version of the character. Episode 4 was titled The Night of 456 00:41:27,622 --> 00:41:33,325 the Hunters. After Mayor Jessup orders the creation of a task force to apprehend Batman, Gordon 457 00:41:33,365 --> 00:41:39,888 chooses Montoya to run it. Using Dr. Quinzel's insights, corrupt GCPD detectives Harvey Bullock 458 00:41:39,908 --> 00:41:46,172 and Arnold Flass use a masked criminal called Firebug as bait to lure out Batman. As part 459 00:41:46,212 --> 00:41:51,554 of their plan, they let Firebug go to start a fire. Batman arrives to rescue civilians, 460 00:41:51,714 --> 00:41:56,716 evading corrupt SWAT officers led by Bullock and Flass in the process. As Bullock and Flass 461 00:41:56,756 --> 00:42:03,077 kill Firebug to cover their tracks, Batman reluctantly works with Jim, who disapproves of the task 462 00:42:03,097 --> 00:42:09,019 force's methods to save the remaining civilians. Afterward, Batman disappears once more. Bullock 463 00:42:09,039 --> 00:42:13,900 and Flass are hailed as heroes by Jessup and put in charge of the Batman task force with 464 00:42:13,940 --> 00:42:20,407 Jim narrowly keeping his job. I loved this episode. I thought it was a fantastic episode showing 465 00:42:20,447 --> 00:42:27,012 the corruption of the GCPD, which isn't explored enough in a lot of media, I feel like, but 466 00:42:27,132 --> 00:42:31,995 this show handled it perfectly. Oh yeah. Flash and Bullock were probably bigger bastards in 467 00:42:32,035 --> 00:42:36,498 this show than they've been in anything else I've ever seen them in. Yeah, they were big 468 00:42:36,538 --> 00:42:41,181 time jerks here. It was surprising to me how much this show could get away with. People 469 00:42:41,221 --> 00:42:45,644 were actually shot, killed and stuff like that. You couldn't get away with stuff like that 470 00:42:45,824 --> 00:42:51,709 in the 90s on television. But here it totally worked. It's much more mature. And I thought 471 00:42:51,849 --> 00:42:56,253 that made it a lot more interesting. Well, I realized that from the first episode when Oswaldo 472 00:42:56,293 --> 00:43:01,057 killed one of her sons and then like you saw his body as a skeleton coming out of the trunk 473 00:43:01,077 --> 00:43:05,942 later. That's right. Like this is pulpy as hell. And I'm here for it. Oh, totally. We've been 474 00:43:05,962 --> 00:43:11,447 going to episode five. It was titled The Stress of Her Regard. After several wealthy businessmen 475 00:43:11,527 --> 00:43:16,606 abruptly donate their fortunes to charity and go missing. Barbara suspects their physician 476 00:43:16,726 --> 00:43:22,328 and her friend, Dr. Quinzel, is involved. In reality, Quinzel has adopted the jester-like 477 00:43:22,368 --> 00:43:27,429 persona of Harley Quinn and is subjugating the businessman to immense torture in an attempt 478 00:43:27,469 --> 00:43:31,930 to correct their minds and behavior. Barbara and Batman track her to the basement of one 479 00:43:31,950 --> 00:43:36,451 of her patients, where the latter is overpowered and knocked unconscious before the house is 480 00:43:36,551 --> 00:43:41,693 rigged to detonate. Nonetheless, Batman recovers and saves Barbara, though he fails to save 481 00:43:41,733 --> 00:43:47,254 Quinzel from falling to her apparent death. Having survived, however, Quinzel calls Montoya 482 00:43:47,534 --> 00:43:52,076 to call off a date they had planned and tell her that she is temporarily leaving Gotham. 483 00:43:52,476 --> 00:43:58,178 Now, initially I was rejecting this take on Harley Quinn. Like, I somewhat liked the idea 484 00:43:58,538 --> 00:44:05,099 that she was the resident psychiatrist for the city as opposed to a doctor at Arkham Asylum. 485 00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:11,121 But I didn't like the idea of Harley Quinn not having the Joker. But by this episode, I was 486 00:44:11,141 --> 00:44:17,129 sold on the idea. The idea that the psychiatrist was going beyond helping people who were coming 487 00:44:17,149 --> 00:44:22,493 to her and torturing them was amazing. It was brilliant, I thought. And the fact that she 488 00:44:22,533 --> 00:44:27,177 kind of justified it and that they felt like they were kings and that she was bringing them 489 00:44:27,237 --> 00:44:32,641 down as the Jester, making them see the error of their ways was pretty damn good. It was 490 00:44:32,761 --> 00:44:37,424 solid as hell. As a concept, if you were ever going to do Harley Quinn without the Joker, 491 00:44:37,845 --> 00:44:42,959 this is exactly how you do it. This is how you get her motivations, her modus operandi. Everything 492 00:44:42,999 --> 00:44:47,401 about it was so interesting. We've seen lots of different versions of Harley Quinn by this 493 00:44:47,441 --> 00:44:52,563 point. But this version is something that I think even Kelly Kuoku's Harley Quinn could 494 00:44:52,583 --> 00:44:58,366 take notes from. Yeah. Because there's a lot to unpack here. And they only just scratch 495 00:44:58,386 --> 00:45:03,028 the surface of what this Harley Quinn could be in this show. I did hate the fact that Batman 496 00:45:03,048 --> 00:45:08,318 was essentially taken out by a dude in a diaper in this series. I was like, no way. That's 497 00:45:08,358 --> 00:45:13,682 not going to happen. That's dumb. But for the most part, I really liked this episode. The 498 00:45:13,882 --> 00:45:19,286 Lesbian Kiss kind of took me back, given the 1940s setting, 1950s setting, because it was 499 00:45:19,346 --> 00:45:24,491 done out in public. Right. That was just something I was like, OK, so apparently this Elseworld 500 00:45:24,531 --> 00:45:29,234 story was just a much more progressive reality for the time. It was one of the things that 501 00:45:29,274 --> 00:45:33,650 I think stood out in terms of all the progressive changes that they made for the show. Yeah, 502 00:45:33,690 --> 00:45:37,171 clearly. And again, something you definitely couldn't get away with on Saturday mornings, 503 00:45:37,291 --> 00:45:43,074 kids television when we were growing up. Right. Episode 6 was titled Night Ride. When a mysterious 504 00:45:43,154 --> 00:45:48,757 ghost on horseback emerges to rob Gotham's working class, Dent's mayoral election campaign is 505 00:45:48,797 --> 00:45:54,399 threatened due to the robberies happening on his watch. He is offered a donation from Thorne, 506 00:45:54,499 --> 00:46:00,238 but is hesitant to accept it. Meanwhile, Batman struggles to fight the ghost directly. Deducing 507 00:46:00,278 --> 00:46:05,721 that it is the spirit of Jim Craddock, the gambling addicted former owner of an old property that 508 00:46:05,741 --> 00:46:11,405 Bruce's friend Lucius Fox recently bought, he gains help from Linton Midnight, Papa Midnight, 509 00:46:11,745 --> 00:46:17,128 who advises him to sacrifice the old property's deed and the blood of a nobleman to draw out 510 00:46:17,168 --> 00:46:22,231 Craddock. Though Craddock possesses Batman's butler, Alfred Pennyworth, Batman completes 511 00:46:22,251 --> 00:46:28,178 the ritual using Alfred's blood and traps Craddock in a vial. He subsequently gives it to Midnight 512 00:46:28,278 --> 00:46:33,140 while Dent accepts Thorne's donation. It was really cool to see Papa Midnight in this episode. 513 00:46:33,220 --> 00:46:37,382 There are any number of magicians that could have been included in the show, and Papa Midnight 514 00:46:37,462 --> 00:46:41,024 would not have been near the top of my list of who would have shown up. But I thought it 515 00:46:41,044 --> 00:46:46,746 was really cool that he did. Yeah, in the 90s cartoon, we saw Jason Blood appear in the Batman 516 00:46:46,786 --> 00:46:52,128 series. And I think it was Dr. Fate who appeared in the Superman series. I thought it was going 517 00:46:52,148 --> 00:46:56,926 to be one of those. I was definitely surprised by Papa Midnight. but it was also really cool 518 00:46:57,307 --> 00:47:03,011 to see such an obscure character make an appearance in the show. Moving on to episode 7, titled 519 00:47:03,071 --> 00:47:08,034 Moving Target. Jim fears that someone put a bounty on his head after assassins such as 520 00:47:08,094 --> 00:47:13,158 Floyd Lawton and Anomatopeia come to Gotham, and the former almost succeeds at killing him. 521 00:47:13,538 --> 00:47:18,441 He reluctantly agrees to be escorted to a safe house at Wayne Gardens, but Anomatopeia's group 522 00:47:18,482 --> 00:47:23,365 finds them. Meanwhile, Batman learns the hit was placed by a Blackgate penitentiary inmate 523 00:47:23,385 --> 00:47:28,779 named Muller, and follows Jim's detail. Narrowly fending off the assassins, Berman reveals to 524 00:47:28,819 --> 00:47:34,561 Jim while getting the contract canceled, he discovered Barbara is the true target. Officer 525 00:47:34,621 --> 00:47:40,082 Jim Corrigan attempts to claim the bounty for himself, but is disarmed by Jim and arrested. 526 00:47:40,502 --> 00:47:45,744 Mueller later reveals he ordered the hit because he feels he deserves better prison accommodations. 527 00:47:46,004 --> 00:47:51,382 This was a fantastic episode, another one of my favorite episodes, very focused on- Jim 528 00:47:51,422 --> 00:47:56,386 Gordon and Barbara Gordon and their relationship, which I thought was great. I didn't love on 529 00:47:56,406 --> 00:48:01,791 a monopoeia here. He doesn't make sense to me as like a gang leader. He wouldn't be able 530 00:48:01,811 --> 00:48:06,896 to order anybody around. They would just see him as a joke. Exactly. His voice didn't work 531 00:48:06,916 --> 00:48:11,540 for me, too. Like it was too raspy and stuff like that. Like whenever I read on a monopoeia 532 00:48:11,560 --> 00:48:16,665 his voice in the books, I always thought of it as more like a Hannibal Lecter type voice. 533 00:48:17,185 --> 00:48:21,075 Yeah. something like James Spader's Ultron or something like that. But here he sounded like 534 00:48:21,135 --> 00:48:25,677 Bender from Futurama or something like that. It just did not work. I did think it was cool 535 00:48:25,697 --> 00:48:30,999 that they had Jim Corrigan on the GCPD. I was not expecting him. I actually thought he was 536 00:48:31,019 --> 00:48:35,561 going to die at the very end of this episode and somehow be reborn as the specter or something 537 00:48:35,601 --> 00:48:40,604 like that. That didn't happen. But you know, they're setting him up for something like that. 538 00:48:41,044 --> 00:48:46,726 Yeah. But what a guy who double crossed his own partner B1 that is. qualified to be God's 539 00:48:46,746 --> 00:48:50,967 divine wrath? Well, this isn't keeping with the character from the comics. Like, Jim Corrigan 540 00:48:50,987 --> 00:48:56,689 was an asshole in the comics. Really? Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. Moving on to episode 8, titled 541 00:48:56,849 --> 00:49:02,510 Nocturne. Amidst a fundraiser carnival for Dent's campaign, multiple orphans are reported missing. 542 00:49:02,871 --> 00:49:07,592 Batman soon finds the culprit, Natalia Knight, the younger sister of inventor Anton Knight, 543 00:49:08,012 --> 00:49:12,553 who suffers from a mysterious ailment that can only be staved off by draining energy from 544 00:49:12,613 --> 00:49:17,628 people. which grants her enhanced strength. After falling out with and attacking Anton 545 00:49:17,648 --> 00:49:22,551 for his perceived controlling behavior, Natalia continues her attacks until she is intercepted 546 00:49:22,631 --> 00:49:28,454 by Batman. After making her realize she accidentally killed Anton, who begged Batman to stop her 547 00:49:28,494 --> 00:49:33,557 before he died, Batman takes Natalia to safety while her victims are taken to a hospital to 548 00:49:33,597 --> 00:49:38,660 recover. Meanwhile, Dent meets with Thorne to accept his donation, but refuses to accept 549 00:49:38,720 --> 00:49:45,624 his condition of dropping charges against Thorne's friend. retaliation, Thorin II throws a flask 550 00:49:45,664 --> 00:49:52,970 of acid at Dent's face. This is actually probably my least favorite episode. Really? Yeah, I 551 00:49:53,010 --> 00:49:57,654 felt like the whole thing kind of drug on. I didn't really care for the characters of Natalia 552 00:49:57,674 --> 00:50:02,498 and Anton Knight. They're known as the Knight Slayer and Nocturna in the comics. But I think 553 00:50:02,879 --> 00:50:08,623 I was most offended in this episode by how they treated the Robins. I was kind of hoping for 554 00:50:08,663 --> 00:50:15,639 a setup of Robin in this series. And I think this is a poor setup. Well, it seems like it's 555 00:50:15,719 --> 00:50:20,421 never going to happen, right? Right. We're never going to get a Robin in this series. When one 556 00:50:20,441 --> 00:50:24,223 of the boys referred to the other one as Dickie, I was like, oh, maybe this is Dick Grayson. 557 00:50:24,643 --> 00:50:29,065 I actually thought that maybe that was just a coincidence when I saw that Dick was captured 558 00:50:29,185 --> 00:50:33,847 and nearly drained of his life. But then it wasn't until they mentioned Steffi Brown that 559 00:50:33,887 --> 00:50:38,549 I realized what they were doing with the orphans. Oh, you didn't get it when you heard Jace for 560 00:50:38,609 --> 00:50:43,400 Jason? No, not even then. And then of course they had Kelly at the end with the slingshot. 561 00:50:43,420 --> 00:50:48,244 Right. That was obvious. Yeah, for sure. It was like a nice elseworlds homage. But yeah, 562 00:50:48,584 --> 00:50:54,389 it is disappointing that because of this seemingly clever nod to the comics that will actually 563 00:50:54,429 --> 00:50:59,173 never get a Robin for this series. Yeah, it's like either he's going to have five Robins 564 00:50:59,233 --> 00:51:04,837 at once or I imagine none at all. Did not like it. I was surprised we didn't get like Tim 565 00:51:05,178 --> 00:51:10,194 or Damien. I guess Damien would it make sense. But at least Tim. Actually, Damien. could make 566 00:51:10,234 --> 00:51:15,316 sense if they introduce Russell Gould and Talia in a subsequent season. And they just have 567 00:51:15,376 --> 00:51:20,778 Damian be his first Robin. Yeah, I guess they could go with that. Moving on to episode 9, 568 00:51:20,859 --> 00:51:26,221 The Killer Inside Me. In the aftermath of his assault, Dent loses his mayoral bid and is 569 00:51:26,281 --> 00:51:31,503 left with half of his face permanently scarred, which he grows insecure about. Bruce attempts 570 00:51:31,523 --> 00:51:36,125 to cheer him up with a night on the town, but a paranoid Dent has an outburst in a restaurant. 571 00:51:36,746 --> 00:51:41,488 Alfred scolds Bruce for his poor attempt at getting through to him. Craving justice against 572 00:51:41,568 --> 00:51:46,411 those who wronged him, Dent goes on a violent spree throughout Gotham, taking out several 573 00:51:46,471 --> 00:51:52,295 of Thorne's men, though Batman intervenes before he can hurt Thorne himself. Guilt-ridden, Dent 574 00:51:52,375 --> 00:51:57,258 snaps out of his rage and willingly goes to Arkham Asylum, where he discovers Barbara signed 575 00:51:57,318 --> 00:52:02,821 on to become his lawyer. I liked what they did with Harvey Dent for the most part throughout 576 00:52:02,881 --> 00:52:09,851 this season. I did think that his descent into madness was a little out of nowhere though. 577 00:52:10,231 --> 00:52:14,872 Like the voices in his head, they just seem to come along with the scarring of his face. 578 00:52:15,152 --> 00:52:19,274 Well, isn't that true to the story of the character? Like he doesn't begin his descent into madness 579 00:52:19,334 --> 00:52:25,375 until he's actually scarred. No, he essentially repressed a alternate personality as he was 580 00:52:25,475 --> 00:52:30,437 growing up, becoming a lawyer. Like in this show, he didn't really even depend on his old 581 00:52:30,497 --> 00:52:36,335 coin in the same way that he has in prior depictions. I don't know, it was just weird. I loved Diedrich 582 00:52:36,395 --> 00:52:41,978 Bader as the voice of Harvey Dent. I thought he sounded completely different from when he 583 00:52:42,058 --> 00:52:48,202 voices Batman in shows like Harley Quinn. But to me, this version of Harvey Dent is not as 584 00:52:48,242 --> 00:52:54,146 good as other depictions that we've seen in animated films like The Long Halloween or his 585 00:52:54,186 --> 00:52:59,489 live action appearance in The Dark Knight. He was just too smarmy as Harvey Dent. He wasn't 586 00:52:59,529 --> 00:53:04,352 the shining white knight. that he's typically depicted as prior to becoming Two-Face. I guess 587 00:53:04,372 --> 00:53:10,017 that makes sense. I thought it was really interesting how Bruce was essentially responsible for his 588 00:53:10,057 --> 00:53:16,662 descent into madness by forgetting to focus on the victim and having empathy for him. He 589 00:53:16,702 --> 00:53:21,106 had no empathy. He was just trying to get at the people who did it and in effect caused 590 00:53:21,146 --> 00:53:26,430 Harvey Dent to go on this crazy rampage. I didn't really get that. I didn't understand how taking 591 00:53:26,470 --> 00:53:32,523 him out to dinner caused him to have his episode. Bruce didn't know that was going to happen. 592 00:53:32,563 --> 00:53:38,007 I'm sure he had ulterior motives in doing that, but I also felt like it's also something a 593 00:53:38,207 --> 00:53:43,630 good friend might try doing. And I think Harvey even later on said that he understood what 594 00:53:43,671 --> 00:53:47,954 Bruce was trying to do while both of them were talking in Arkham Asylum. Which brings me to 595 00:53:47,994 --> 00:53:52,777 the final episode titled Savage Night. Barbara explains to Dent that she is willing to help 596 00:53:52,817 --> 00:53:58,761 him, insisting that he was led astray. Meanwhile, Thorn's men, Bullock and Flass, seek revenge 597 00:53:58,781 --> 00:54:03,803 on Dent. prompting Barbara and Batman to establish a form of contact between each other and join 598 00:54:03,843 --> 00:54:09,644 forces with each other, Jim and Montoya to protect him so he can testify in court. Amidst a fight 599 00:54:09,684 --> 00:54:15,346 at the docks, however, Dent sacrifices himself to save Barbara from Flass. Batman loses his 600 00:54:15,386 --> 00:54:20,908 temper and threatens to shoot Flass, but ultimately spares him. Following this, Alfred assures 601 00:54:20,968 --> 00:54:27,878 Batman that while he failed to reach Dent's humanity, Batman still has his. A mysterious 602 00:54:27,938 --> 00:54:33,341 man kills a series of victims with a toxin that makes them laugh uncontrollably. Great final 603 00:54:33,361 --> 00:54:38,724 episode. I really liked the pacing of it. It's mostly a chase scene between the good guys 604 00:54:38,744 --> 00:54:43,907 and the bad guys. Yeah, yeah. The finale at the docks was really well done and even surprising 605 00:54:43,947 --> 00:54:48,950 at the very end when Batman holds a gun up to flash and shoots around his head. Although 606 00:54:49,590 --> 00:54:54,893 100% doing permanent ear damage as well, I'm pretty sure. That's fine. He doesn't have a 607 00:54:54,953 --> 00:55:00,340 problem with that. No, he doesn't. In fact, if anything, it was showed that Batman was 608 00:55:00,360 --> 00:55:05,483 such a badass with a gun and he has still refused to do it out of hatred for the weapon. I thought 609 00:55:05,503 --> 00:55:09,965 that was an interesting insight to his character actually that he took the time to understand 610 00:55:10,045 --> 00:55:14,047 this weapon that he despises. Yeah, that was interesting. I always kind of assumed that 611 00:55:14,087 --> 00:55:18,250 Batman really didn't even know how to use a gun. You know, he just hated them so much. 612 00:55:18,370 --> 00:55:24,253 So yeah, again, this was pretty shocking. Even more shocking than that was actually Harvey 613 00:55:24,273 --> 00:55:30,339 Dent's death. in this season, in this series, sacrificing himself to save Barbara. The whole 614 00:55:30,479 --> 00:55:36,021 is he good, is he bad approach to Harvey Dent in this season was really well done. I thought 615 00:55:36,061 --> 00:55:39,902 because, you know, the last episode, we saw him essentially go on a murder spree. But in 616 00:55:39,942 --> 00:55:45,483 this episode, to see him sacrifice himself for Barbara Gordon, I thought was extremely heroic 617 00:55:45,823 --> 00:55:49,905 and definitely redeeming for the character. Like you were sad to see him go. Do you think 618 00:55:49,965 --> 00:55:54,366 they have shot themselves in the foot in terms of the potential? two-faced stories they could 619 00:55:54,386 --> 00:56:00,749 have told in the future? Potentially, but outside of the fall of Harvey Dent, there's not too 620 00:56:00,769 --> 00:56:06,131 many great two-faced stories that you could tell, so maybe it's for the best. Maybe use 621 00:56:06,171 --> 00:56:11,873 this as a way to fuel and motivate Batman going forward, the fact that he remembers his friend 622 00:56:11,913 --> 00:56:17,536 Harvey Dent. But that does it for season one of Batman the Caped Crusader. Overall, I thought 623 00:56:17,556 --> 00:56:23,602 it was a mature and intriguing reimagining of the 90s animated series. featuring new and 624 00:56:23,662 --> 00:56:29,786 modern interpretations of classic characters within a retro noir framework. Not every interpretation 625 00:56:29,906 --> 00:56:34,228 is successful and it would have been nice to see Batman a little bit more than we did. But 626 00:56:34,328 --> 00:56:38,390 overall, I definitely recommend the series, especially for the people who are behind it. 627 00:56:38,891 --> 00:56:45,834 I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars, a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I would agree. I think 628 00:56:45,874 --> 00:56:51,842 the setup and the premise of the series is better than the execution for the most part. Don't 629 00:56:51,862 --> 00:56:55,543 get me wrong, it was a really good show. It was enjoyable and I would recommend it to any 630 00:56:55,583 --> 00:57:01,666 fan of Batman and any fan of Batman the animated series. But it does feel like for some episodes, 631 00:57:01,986 --> 00:57:06,027 they squandered their potential. Even though I had a really good time with the series and 632 00:57:06,067 --> 00:57:10,089 I'm really looking forward to where they take it in the future. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I'm 633 00:57:10,109 --> 00:57:13,710 not sure if they're doing a season two, but I really hope they are. I would love to see 634 00:57:13,750 --> 00:57:20,433 it. But that does it for this review. AJ 9K, help close this out. Thanks for listening to 635 00:57:20,473 --> 00:57:27,348 Dynamic Jewel. Visit the show's website at dynamicduel.com and follow us on Instagram at dynamicduelpodcast. 636 00:57:27,828 --> 00:57:33,151 You can support the show on Patreon at patreon.com slash dynamicduel and joining a tier that works 637 00:57:33,171 --> 00:57:38,553 for you, or by rating and reviewing Dynamic Duel on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser 638 00:57:38,853 --> 00:57:43,355 or on our website. Don't forget to listen to the other shows in the DynaMic Podcast Network, 639 00:57:43,776 --> 00:57:50,690 including Max Destruction, Senjo World and Console Combat. In our next episode, we will be doing 640 00:57:50,750 --> 00:57:57,132 a duel between Kite Man and Stilt Man. Both of whom are kind of ridiculous villains in 641 00:57:57,192 --> 00:58:01,393 concept. It's going to be a lot of fun, though. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to the episode. 642 00:58:01,633 --> 00:58:05,354 But that does it for this episode. We want to give a big thanks to our executive producers, 643 00:58:05,434 --> 00:58:10,015 Ken Johnson, John Strosky, Zachary Hepburn, Dustin Belcombe, Miggie Mathing-Geehan, Brandon 644 00:58:10,035 --> 00:58:15,437 Nestregard, Nathaniel Wagner, Levi Yeaton, Austin Wazilowski, AJ Dunkerley, Scott Camacho, Gil 645 00:58:15,477 --> 00:58:22,002 Camacho, Adam Spies, Andrew Shunk. Dean Maleski, Devin Davis, Joseph Kirsting, and Josh Leiner 646 00:58:22,022 --> 00:58:26,027 for helping make this podcast possible. And we'll talk to you guys next week. Up up and 647 00:58:26,067 --> 00:58:27,309 away, true believers.