On this episode of X-Ray Vision, Jason Concepcion and Rosie Knight enter the X-Ray Vision Crypt (aka the mailbag)! First in Previously On (1:47) Jason and Rosie dissect and discuss the major DC announcements, including their thoughts on the pre-existuing projects and all the new projects James Gunn and Peter Safran announced. In the Airlock (42:33), they dive deep (deeep) into the Crypt – still just the Mailbag – to answer questions about the MCU, comics, Star Wars, and more. Then in Nerd Out (1:18:49) a listener pitches us on the classic tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons.

 

Tune in every Wednesday & Friday and don’t forget to Hulk Smash the Follow button!

 

Nerd Out Submission Instructions!

Send a short pitch and 2-3 minute voice memo recording to xray@crooked.com that answers the following questions: 1) How did you get into/discover your ‘Nerd Out?’ (2) Why should we get into it too? (3) What’s coming soon in this world that we can look forward to or where can we find it? If you’re sending a theory, feel free to send only a summary of your theory (no audio needed) for Jason and Rosie to react to on air.

 

Follow Jason: twitter.com/netw3rk

Follow Rosie: IG, website, & Letterboxd

Join the X-Ray Vision Discord

Follow Crooked: twitter.com/crookedmedia

 

The Listener’s Guide for all things X-Ray Vision!

 

Note: There were too many name and comic checks in this episode to cover it all on the Listener’s Guide. For more information and insight into Rosie and Jason’s recs, please check out the Discord.

 

Batman by Grant Morrison. Plus, check out our interview with Morrison where they talk about working on Batman over the years.

 

All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison

 

The Authority

 

 Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King 

 

TRANSCRIPT

 

[AD]

 

Jason Concepcion Warning. This podcast contains series and reactions to the new DC slate, plus grab bag spoilers for various Marvel Comics, Star Wars stuff, including Andor, and more in our mailbag. So be warned. Hello, my name is Jason Concepcion.

 

Rosie Knight And I’m Rosie Knight.

 

Jason Concepcion And welcome to X-ray Vision, the Crooked Media podcast, where we dive deep, deep, deep, deep into your favorite shows, movies, comics and pop culture.

 

Rosie Knight In this episode, we are diving deep, deep, deep, deep, deep in the Previously On. It’s that James Gunn new DC Slate is wild.

 

Jason Concepcion Jimmy G.

 

Rosie Knight It is weird, we are here to tell you all about it because it is. There is some deep cut stuff there, you know we love that. In the Airlock.

 

Jason Concepcion You Colonel Sanders, beautiful bastard, you.

 

Rosie Knight Creature Commandos. What is wrong with you? This is incredible. In the airlock, It’s the mailbag with questions about Marvel Comics. What we’re looking forward to in 2023. And more important thing to note here, we recorded this before the DC Slate announcement, which is why some of the later answers about DC films don’t mention the new projects, but we will be answering those questions in a future episode. And in Nerd Out, we have a really awesome segment from Sarah talking about Dungeons and Dragons, which is very relevant if you’ve been keeping up with the tabletop gaming news. And as always, if you want to jump around, check the show notes for timestamps folks.

 

Jason Concepcion Let’s get into it with the huge announcement from James Gunn, co-CEO of DC Studios, with the announcement of the DC Slate. James Gunn, the recently appointed co-CEO of DC Studios, revealed the upcoming slate of DC Comics, movies and shows, and also did a bunch of interviews for the big industry publications. And let’s get into it. First of all, the overall strategy is the thing that I think DC fans, comic fans have been wanting for a while, which is unify all of these kind of like disparate story spaces and make one coherent, cohesive story in which all the characters are the same characters played by the same actors, and that includes, interestingly, characters who are going to voice characters in the animation side are also going to be the same actors who play them in live action. And in cases where things are happening outside of that continuity, like the sequel to Matt Reeves’s, Batman in the and Matt Reeves Batman itself, like the The Joker movie.

 

Rosie Knight You mentioned Teen Titans Go. I was so happy that they were like they were just like Teen Titans Go is an Elseworlds project, guys. It’s not going anywhere. And I was like, Well, thank God.

 

Jason Concepcion Well, it’s funny to be like, like it was, you know, it it kind of made me chuckle a little bit because it was like and then things like, you know, Matt Reeves as Batman the Joker from the sequel to The Joker and Teen Titans Go.

 

Rosie Knight Exactly. I was like, Well, at least they know it’s valuable. And also, yeah, I’m happy because I feel like everyone for a lot. We’ve all been asking for an elseworlds slate and I actually think they need a really clever to use it for something that already exists rather than what we’ve all kind of assumed, which is you would create your elseworlds outside of an already existing DC universe. I thought that was really smart. Also, I just want to say I really like this choice to bring people over from animation into live action. And also, as Gordon said, he’s hoping that that kind of crossover to gaming because I think it shows something about gun the I think. Hence I really massive promise of success. He already knows what DC does well. Matt Ryan.

 

Jason Concepcion That’s right. He understands that this is part of the lineage of DC is animation .

 

Rosie Knight Exactly. Because Matt Ryan, who is such a brilliant Constantine, who I still believe should get his chance to do his serious R-rated Constantine from the CW shows He voiced Constantine in the late animated series, and it was such a good continuity and it made people so excited to think it was the same character. And that was just a small kind of niche TV audience. So it’s going to be really exciting to see them continue that on. And even in those CW shows, they tested this idea of introducing a character in animation like Vixen and then bringing them over. So I’m really excited to see that done in a much more expansive way. That’s not just little YouTube shorts to TV.

 

Jason Concepcion I totally feel the same way. Let’s get into the slate itself.

 

Rosie Knight Wild.

 

Jason Concepcion Starting with the existing project. So Gunn was was very praise full of the slate that is kind of like that they that they inherited essentially saying, you know, Peter and I got really lucky with these movies. So we start with Shazam Fury of the Gods. So obviously bedtime it was Zachary Levi, his recent tweets, which he addressed. But this kind of puts to rest any idea that that Shazam is outside of the DCEU. And he kind of said, you know, Shazam has always kind of been doing his own thing, Like even in the comics, Shazam is kind of like separated from a normal continuity, but it will be part of the DCU. So that puts the press in any controversy about that.

 

Rosie Knight I find this very interesting though, because like so they said, this will lead directly into the flash, which will then reset the DC Universe. So I do think that’s a bit of an out for them to get rid of anything they don’t want. Everyone knows I’m a big Shazam movie fan. I’m not a big fan of what Zachary Levi was saying online, but I do think like the Shazam-ily, Mary Marvel, all those other kids. I would love to see them continue in the DC Universe, even if that’s not necessarily something that we see for the main Billy Batson Shazam character. I mean, who doesn’t want Megan Good in the in the DCU? I do. So yeah, that’s going to go directly into the Flash, which again, me and Jason have been saying for a long time, is it going to come out? I still don’t believe it.

 

Jason Concepcion But it really feels like it going to.

 

Rosie Knight It’s going it’s going to come out now.

 

Jason Concepcion Okay. So important connective tissue here is, you know, Zachary Levi, of course, came out, is strongly anti-vax and people were sharing his his Rogan clip in which he is like Jordan Peterson, man, that guy gets it.

 

Rosie Knight And he doesn’t correct Rogan when Rogan deadnames and misgenders Elliot Page. So there’s a lot of negative.

 

Jason Concepcion And so a lot of negative stuff and this was getting reshared and people were like, Oh my God. Zachary Levi Not good. Now, James Gunn did address this, essentially saying, Well, I’ll quote them here. Actors, filmmakers that I work with are going to say things that I agree with and things I don’t agree with. I can’t be changing my plans all the time because actor says something that I don’t agree with. Then a saying something that is clearly meant to address any Flash issues and Ezra miller issues, he continued, at the same token, if someone is doing something that is morally reprehensible, that’s a different story and we have to take that into account. So I think a very measured statement. We can disagree. I think listen, I strongly disagree with everything Zachary Levi said. At the same time, I’m not married to a movie franchise with millions of dollars of outstanding billings left there and all that kind of legal contractual bindings that occurs. So as the head of the studio, I get it.

 

Rosie Knight It’s a measured statement.

 

Jason Concepcion He has to eat. He has to be like, listen, I can’t police every comment that everybody makes.

 

Rosie Knight I personally I personally believe it’s very interesting to say, like if something’s morally reprehensible and then lead into the Flash and be like, it’s the greatest movie ever, because I feel like we.

 

Jason Concepcion Clearly.

 

Rosie Knight Know that those things.

 

Jason Concepcion Clearly a comment on that.

 

Rosie Knight Ezra has done So the Flash movie which is going to become directly after Shazam and they say Shazam is going to connect to that is going to reset the entire DC universe. I think as we know, that means that gives them a choice to get rid of Ezra, to introduce a Wally West flash, to get rid of the parts of the old DCU that they don’t want and start off with a crisis or a flash point that will lay the groundwork for where the new DCU starts.

 

Jason Concepcion That’s right. And so the flash, June 16th, which Gunn referred to in a in a in a comment, I think to variety during the scrum, probably one of the greatest superhero movies ever made. So listen, there’s there’s an element of he has to say that, but he did say it.

 

Rosie Knight And also I feel like, my gut says, I think at one point the director of The Flash, Andy Muschietti, who’s been working on this movie for years, I think he was probably promised the keys to the DC Kingdom with this movie. This was meant to be the big cohesive Restart movie, and I think that people are feeling very generous to him for the work that he has done and the time that he’s put into this movie, and I hope it really is that great. And I personally like, I hope that Ezra is just gone at the beginning and then they’re like, Hey, it’s Willie West, you love him, he’s great. But yeah, I’m fine to be a very interesting comment I’m hearing. Apparently it did test very well, so that would be interesting. And one of the things I found very interesting is they then said, well, next movie is Blue Beetle, and that will not be connected to the Flash or any previous DCU. That is BlueBell is where you begin with this new DCU. And he even said that the character Blue Beetle, who I love and I’m really excited to see, you know, the kid from Cobra Kai, who’s so brilliant, the kid who plays Miguel take on that role. And James said that character, be it was going to be a big part of the DCU going forward, which makes a lot of sense when we get to one of our new announcements, which is a character who’s very heavily connected to Blue Beetle.

 

Jason Concepcion And then Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom December 25th, Safran said in interviews after the announcement, Jason always saw Aquaman as a trilogy, and which Gunn added, I will say we don’t have an actor playing do different roles. This is this is in it as an answer to the rumor that Momoa could play Lobo when he’s done playing Aquaman.

 

Rosie Knight I’m sure that will probably happen. That makes a lot of sense, but it will be when he’s done and something that I was very excited about as number one, Aquaman and James Wan and Jason Momoa, and they said something here that I found very interesting. At one point it seemed like Aquaman was going to be like the stepchild of this best four and this was going to be the outside. But James specifically said the Aquaman will lead directly into their first proper DC movie, which is Superman Legacy. So that is incredibly exciting to me that they see Aquaman as a direct line into that DC issue.

 

Jason Concepcion I guess the question then is, you know, with they’ve cut the cord on all of the kind of legacy projects except for Aquaman, which is going to be the string that kind of leads into this, they’re saying. But when the Flash and we’re assuming here that the flash basically flash points and kills everything and resets the entire universe, does that mean that Momoa as Aquaman is reset as well and that he can do what needs to be, because it seems pretty definitive.

 

Rosie Knight Or does it going to be something?

 

Jason Concepcion It seems pretty definitive. They’re going to say like if you played Aquaman, you cannot then go and play another character. But if that character and and continuity is gone wiped away, can it then happen.

 

Rosie Knight And clear very interesting especially as Aquaman comes out December 25th. So after Flashpoint. So it’s going to be very interesting to see. I feel like one of the threads between Aquaman and The Flash had been this Michael Keaton appearance that had been like very heavily rumored that apparently got taken away. Then they brought in Ben Affleck. Now Ben Affleck’s not in it. I feel like a Michael Keaton/Batman 89 thread between those movies feels very James Gunn ish and like it, you could still have that kind of time traveling, future past Bruce Wayne to kind of tie these things together, but I’ll be very interested to see how this happens. I’m just really glad that James sees Aquaman as a as a direct kind of lineage, too, to the Superman movie, which gets us to these kind of what they’re calling chapter one. Gods and Monsters.

 

Jason Concepcion And so this is their phase one in which they introduce our heroes and our villains.

 

Rosie Knight And James said, this is just some but not all of the projects. So this is certainly not just this is the first wave that they got okayed to announce, basically.

 

Jason Concepcion So we start with Creature Commandos, which is a James Gunn written animated series, seven episode animated series that will feature the same characters who are playing the characters featured in this in live action, voicing the characters. And yes, such as Amanda Waller.

 

Rosie Knight This is like.

 

Jason Concepcion Played by Viola Davis.

 

Rosie Knight This is such I will say, I don’t think that’s the case. I think you’re going to see I think my understanding is it’s going to be that they had a great still from the video of the Creature Commandos, and it’s basically in the comics. It’s like from Weird War and it’s a World War Two team and it’s basically all the universal monsters scratch out Universal. So you have a Frankenstein, a Dracula. They look like in in the new team. They also have like a Bride of Frankenstein and a a kind of creature from the Black Lagoon inspired by Abe SAPIEN. So I think this is going to be that monsters fighting Nazis, really taken directly from that J.M. DeMatteis and Pat Broderick stuff. That is just one of those weird deep cut DC things. Interestingly, this is already in production, so I assume that this is a passion project of Gunn’s, that was probably already in play before this ever came in.

 

Jason Concepcion Also animated you just do the voices and then it takes four years to do to.

 

Rosie Knight Do the beautiful animation.

 

Jason Concepcion To do the cartoons. Yeah. Then we go to Waller. This will star Viola Davis. This is a TV series that spins off from Peacemaker, written by Christal Henry, who was part of the writing team behind Watchmen on HBO. Max and Jeremy Carver from Supernatural. And this is essentially going to be. Peacemaker Season two.

 

Rosie Knight So I think originally it had come out saying this is going to kind of be Peacemaker season two. But I think what James is saying now is this is going to be the holding pattern between Peacemaker two because everybody’s really busy. But I think that we can say it’s it’s spiritually peacemaker season two because it’s going to have team peacemaker in it. It’s going to be Viola playing Waller, which is really exciting. And we’re going to see those Peacemaker characters come back. The centering of the story is just going to focus onto Amanda Waller, who I think is one of the most interesting DC characters. And I think that very smart to kind of focus heavily. On her and her legacy as the leader of the Suicide Squad is the kind of person behind Peacemaker. So I think that’ll be really interesting and I’m sure it’ll be a huge smash hit, just like Peacemaker was.

 

Jason Concepcion Next up. And this is I would I would put this under the category of We were right.

 

Rosie Knight Yes.

 

Jason Concepcion Now we’ve been calling for an all star Superman take on Superman to kind of reset all that gritty, like jaw clenching, mass destruction depiction of Superman and Man of Steel and the Snyder verse. And I think this description of Superman legacy written by James Gunn, is the thing that will do that. Safran says it’s an origin story. It focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing. He’s the embodiment of truth, justice in the American Way’s kindness, in a world that thinks kindness as old fashioned. This sounds a lot like All Star Superman.

 

Rosie Knight And if you go to this video, which is funny because I read all of this news in the trade, because obviously the trades are great.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah.

 

Rosie Knight And that was where they had the big news and DC.com had some great news. But I will say that, if you look at the video, you get a little bit of extra information and you talk about what’s not Superman. The image we get when they show this and when James is talking about this is Frank quietly, and it’s Superman sitting up above looking over Metropolis, you know, And I saw another really great quote from Gunn that made me really feel like he understands what you need in a Superman story, what he said. He’s just like a big old fashioned galoot and his like his. I love this idea that that James said, which was his greatest weakness, is he will never kill somebody. And I just think that is like the best thing You have, the most powerful, godlike person on earth. But their ultimate weakness is they can’t do the thing that every villain will do. That to me.

 

Jason Concepcion Not to mention, there’s also the symbolism of this announcement coming out on Grant Morrison’s birthday feels.

 

Rosie Knight Absolutely.

 

Jason Concepcion Feels huge.

 

Rosie Knight Thanks for pointing that out. Not just that because this is not the only this is the this is like the fans saying, oh, it’s probably inspired by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely all star Superman. But later on we get an announcement where they say this is directly based on Grant Morrison’s spoiler alert, which we’ll talk in in a minute. But yeah, I think this is really exciting. I, I know it’s going to be young Superman, but I really still one of my greatest wishes is that in the elseworlds, like Matt Reeves world, I think you can have such a good Channing Tatum. Superman. Who is the Superman to Robert Pattinson’s Batman. And you make that movie and it is as bright and cheery and funny as that Batman movie is dark like I feel like Channing Tatum is. He’s coming up more and more in my superhero casting because I just think he’s such a great comedic actor. And obviously I love Magic Mike, but like, yeah.

 

Jason Concepcion The Mike-verse.

 

Rosie Knight The Mike verse. I can’t wait for Magic Mike’s Last Dance. Magic Mike XXL, one of my all time favorite movies. If you haven’t seen it, go watch it. It’s like an unbelievable treatise on male friendship. Just absolutely wonderful. But yeah, Superman Legacy is going to be a young Superman. And this begins what James says, like, so Waller and Creature Commandos, I think those were in production before. And James says that kind of the soft launch. But Superman Legacy is boom, you’re in the new DCU now and that’s going to be in 2025. So you’re kind of getting a scope for where we’re headed and when we’ll really be seeing that massive boom of DC projects which will be continued by Lanterns, which they’re kind of selling as this huge, massive TV event on HBO Max, that’s going to a team of Jon Stewart and Hal Jordan, which is exciting.

 

Jason Concepcion Galactic Detectives. Yeah, Space Cops on Earth. They’re they’re saying that it’s it’s essentially kind of going to be like a True Detective relationship story about these two very different lanterns. Now, listen, I don’t love I’m not a fan of space cops.

 

Rosie Knight I don’t think it’s the most exciting version of Green Lantern. But I do like True Detectives.

 

Jason Concepcion I love and I love the fact that Hal, you get Hal and John together is really cool and really interesting.

 

Rosie Knight I would love I want to see a world where they even though I get it, it’s like Space Cops. It’s going to be a grittier. I still think one of the most interesting things about Jon Stewart is that he was originally like an architect, which is the best power you could ever, like the best life you could ever have before being a Green Lantern. So I would love to see some of that built in. And they I think that if you’re wondering what the DCU is going to be about, this is the show that you need to watch because they say this plays a really big role in leading into the main story we’re telling across film and TV when the power will discover like a terrifying mystery that ties into the kind of larger story. So that’s very interesting. I wonder what it would be, because true Detective, I think of like the first season cults. I think of like this really intimate, gritty, serial killer story. So I’m kind of wondering I mean, look, I did just have a terrible idea. I’m sure that’s not what is going to be. But in my head, I’m like, when you think about murder mystery and you think about DC Universe, you think about identity crisis. And I mean.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah.

 

Rosie Knight I don’t think maybe I don’t necessarily.

 

Jason Concepcion Oh my God.

 

Rosie Knight Know, if that’s what it’s going to be. And if it was, I trust James Suicide Squad. I still I will tell you guys, if you’re not sure about this James Gunn universe, go and watch. That movie is so subversive and cool. And the performances that he gets out of this unbelievable cast that is a Taika Waititi two minute cameo that will break your heart like it’s so good. And I would I would trust the person who made Suicide Squad to oversee an Identity Crisis that is not so problematic as the original.

 

Jason Concepcion So for those for those who are not versed in Identity Crisis, it’s the most basic level. It’s about a mind, a memory wiping scheme that causes various characters, villains and heroes to maybe not actually know who they are. And the the things that the various characters go through to uncover, you know, what’s at the bottom of this.

 

Rosie Knight Yeah. And it and it centers around like a what appears to be like a murder mystery. And it’s written by Brad Meltzer, who is a murder mystery writer, and Brad Morales, that when this book came out, I actually like really did love it. I was very young and I loved murder mysteries. It has some less than appealing treatment of women and depictions of mental health. But I do wonder if some kind of multiversal or superheroic murder mystery that changes the way superheroes see themselves could potentially be at the core of what they’re doing. I think there’s a chance that we could see a version of that. And then we talked about Identity Crisis, which seems wild, if you know. But we’re about to say the wildest thing that got announced.

 

Jason Concepcion Oh, wildest, truly the wildest, kind of a storm of wildness.

 

Rosie Knight I think I would say that.

 

Jason Concepcion Was they’re bringing in they’re bringing the DC imprint, Wildstorm story and team, the Authority, into DC continuity proper. Here’s Safran on the Authority. They’re kind of like Jack Nicholson and A Few Good Men. They know what you want. They want you on that wall. Or at least they believe that. So the authority was kind of like a very, very, very late nineties, early 2000 take on superheroes, super violent superheroes who will. It was kind of like a bid to bring a kind of Justice League pastiche into the kind of like into modern pop storytelling, much like, you know, Marvel’s Ultimate universe in The Ultimates. It’s a very kind of classic, similar kind of vein.

 

Rosie Knight It’s really good that you bring up The Ultimate. So I would say, The Authority, I’m going to I’m going to put it out there because this is the kind of stuff we talk about. It was So I love Jim Lee. Jim Lee founded this imprint, Wildstorm, part of Image Comics, one of the original six studios. It had it was called Wildstorm. This is like the sweetest thing I think about all the time, because the two main books were Wild Cats and Storm Watch. Very cute. Jim Lee I love that.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah.

 

Rosie Knight Storm Watch basically evolved into The Authority under the authorship of Warren Ellis, who recently, over the last few years, a lot of people within the comics community came out on a website called So many of US that you can read and talked about how they had experienced, I would say alleged for legal reasons like alleged abusive and manipulative relationships with Alice. So I think that’s really important because to bring up just because the authority put him on the map and this was really the book that gave him the celebrity status that would later lead to those conversations. But what I will say is you brought the ultimate universe. This book was created by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch. The second volume was made by Mark Miller, and this gritty, grounded, violent take was then taken by Miller and Bryan Hitch, and they created The Ultimate Universe. And The Ultimate Universe went on to create and inspire the MCU as we know it. So The Authority has a massive, massive impact and legacy, but it is.

 

Jason Concepcion Yes.

 

Rosie Knight So, it’s not as grotesque as The Boys, but it’s definitely in that Venn diagram of edgy violence. These superheroes will kill you.

 

Jason Concepcion I mean, that was the mission statement was push the envelope on what superheroes are.

 

Rosie Knight Yeah.

 

Jason Concepcion And I’ll say this. I think that they’re the bad guys.

 

Rosie Knight I think so. In this DCU, I think they’re the bad guys.

 

Jason Concepcion I think that they’re going to be the bad guys. And I think this is I think The Authority and the way The Authority go about their business. Who knows where they come from? Maybe they come from another dimension. They show up here and then they’re just like, Oh, great, perfect. This world needs superheroes. And I think that this is going to be the reason that the JLA and our heroes come together in a team to fight them.

 

Rosie Knight I love that. I think that’s a brilliant idea, because also the original there’s multiple different versions of The Authority throughout history. So like, you probably wouldn’t know most of the characters because who is Jenny Sparks? Nobody knows. That’s one of the original leaders. But I will tell you two characters that you will know who, if they come into this show, which I believe they will, will probably be the break off team who become the roguish anti-hero heroes rather than being called the villains. Which is Midnighter and Apollo, who are two of comics. First gay characters. They’re married. They’re in love. They actually end up adopting a younger version of the Leader of the Authority later on, and they have become huge. Huge cult fans in the DC Universe with, you know, Steve Orlando did like a Midnighter series and there was a Midnighter and Apollo spin off. And I think that we could see those characters kind of break off. But I think you’re right. The way they describe these characters, James Gunn is a huge Wildstorm fan. He said he loves Miles. He wants to bring all of the characters into the DCU so we could see, like, you know, Wildcats we could see. I think people like Griffin.

 

Jason Concepcion Stuff and we wanted Wildcats in the DC.

 

Rosie Knight I believe it. I’m already hearing I’m already hearing rumblings about Jim Lee’s involvement and stuff, which would make me really excited. So I think this is really interesting. But the way they’re talking about it, they’re saying they think they’re the good guys. They believe what they’re doing is right. That is very different from the other kinds of stories that Gunn, Gunn likes to tell a story like Suicide Squad. Who are the bad guys who think they’re the bad guys, but then actually they do something good. I love this idea of a team who truly believes, and that is the point of the authority. They believe they are a higher authority. They believe that they should be outside the realm of their government.

 

Jason Concepcion Superman in the in the in the like German philosophical sense.

 

Rosie Knight You even know. And they were created, some of them like Midnighter and Apollo, they were essentially created by like an evil scientist. Then you have, you know, Jenny Sparks is essentially like somebody who lives for a century, who represents the the spirit of the 21st century and the 20th century. I will say that sounds like a Grant Morrison idea to me. I feel like this was very inspired by Morrison’s outlook, but comes with like a less hopeful vibe. But yeah. Mark Miller worked on it. Dustin Nguyen worked on it, Frank Quietly worked on it. Grant Morrison wrote two issues of the third volume, which was illustrated by Jean Harlow, then disappeared around the time him and Mark Miller fell out. So this is like the absolute roster of famous creators who got their start or involved on this book. Ed Brubaker wrote some of this, like this is this was a kind of hub for comic book creative talent that would establish a lot of people.

 

Jason Concepcion Late nineties, early 2000s where a great time in comics creatively because the entire industry’s back was against it.

 

Rosie Knight Exactly. That’s when you got some of the wildest Marvel stuff. Joe Cassada comes in at Marvel. Yeah, you got Frank and Cast, The Punisher who’s a Frankenstein. Like sure, I love the idea. It was such a creative time and I think it makes a lot of sense for Gunn. I was rereading a lot of these comics. A lot of the stuff, even for 1999, was did not age well.

 

Jason Concepcion There’s some not. So I think there’s some not good.

 

Rosie Knight You know, what we have seen in both Marvel and DC.

 

Jason Concepcion They’ll clean it up.

 

Rosie Knight We’ve seen great reconsiderations and reimaginings. So I think this could be one of them. And I think in a post Boys world, this is an incredibly smart choice. I would love to see when Ava DuVernay adapted DMZ, which was written by Brian Wood, who was a creator who had also had alleged abuse and manipulation kind of wield like accusations. Ava went out of her way to hire one of the women who had first broken the silence on Brian Wood as a writer. I would love to see The Authority become a space for that to some of these women who had had relationships with Warren Ellis are allowed to be part of deciding how this story is going to be told, if it’s part of it. I thought that was really cool that Ava did that, and I’d be very interesting to see something similar happen.

 

Jason Concepcion Next up, Paradise Lost. This is going to be a Game of Thrones political style take on Sam Asghari at home in the Amazons, birthplace of Wonder Woman. Kind of. It seems like a Wonder Woman kind of origin story in a sense.

 

Rosie Knight I think what they’re saying is it’s going to be a generation before Diana. So I think we can assume that Diana will be a baby probably because a generation before the Amazons could be thousands of years. And the coolest thing about this, I think, has a lot of potential to go both great or terrible. But I’m going for great. I’m staying optimistic because I want to see I want to see a Game of Thrones Greek mythology, political intrigue show. The idea is this is going to show why there are no men on Themyscira. This is why I would assume that we’ll get something around Aries trying to conquer them. I hope they go for more of that kind of a war theme than the Brian as Torello style. Kind of like kind of leaning more into like the creepy, rapey kind of aspect of why men would be invaded. But I would be very interested. I think this could be so cool. And I love the idea that this is going to be a prestige HBO Max show. Guess what, guys? We know HBO can make great Game of Thrones style programing because they made Game of Thrones. So, yes, we want to see this. I think this is really cool. Imagine casting the kind of casting we’re going to get for all these brilliant Amazons and the kind of way we could see them portrayed on screen and get this time to spend that. So much of the conversation around those Wonder Woman movies, especially Wonder Woman two was like, I want to stay on Themyscira like those first 20 minutes on Themyscira. Let’s make that the whole thing. So I think this is really cool that they’re going to they’re going to do that.

 

Jason Concepcion Up next, a a a real weirdo deep hole from James Gunn, Booster Gold Live action series. Booster Gold is this is a very James Gunn template, the thing that you laid out, which is the losers and the bad guys who kind of get pulled into being heroes. Booster Gold is like a loser from the future, who travels back in time with advanced technology to become a hero.

 

Rosie Knight And I think this is this is really cool. This is going to be, I think, a Peacemaker style, unexpected hit, because in the comics, as James says this in the video, this is a cult fan, favorite character. Everyone has been saying, why not Booster gold? Why not Booster gold? And one of the most popular successful parts of Booster Gold in the comics is his relationship with Blue Beetle. So I think that we will see that will probably be that crossover between the Blue Beetle movie, which they were so happy with and believed in so much that they moved it from HBO Max to theatrical. I think that is where we will see Blue Bill come in and crossover. So the interesting thing to wonder is are they going to do a young booster gold so that they are contemporaries? If so, it could be called a cast like the kid who played Hawk and in Cobra Kai. So you get that kind of reuniting. Or, I’m going back to Channing Tatum. He’d be a brilliant Booster Gold And you can have this kind of older mentor, younger blue beats all kind of relationship of the real hero versus this kind of faux hero who always ends up getting pulled into these kind of heroic schemes. I think this is going to be a really, really big deal.

 

Jason Concepcion Next up, another. Another possible entry into we were right. We were talking in the studio.

 

Rosie Knight And this is a pre-pro pre-pro.

 

Jason Concepcion How much about how we thought the Bat-family had to be involved in in this iteration of the DCU and that we were hoping to see Damian, son of Bruce Wayne and the Brave in the Bold will do that. The Brave and the Bold will introduce Batman and Robin in this kind of like father son story. It’s we’re going to Bruce is going to discover that he has a child and then he’s going to discover that his child who will at one point become Robin, loves to murder.

 

Rosie Knight He’s just a cool 10 year old assassin. With a rich.

 

Jason Concepcion To just love to kill.

 

Rosie Knight James Gunn describe him a little son of a bitch. That’s a good description of Damian Wayne. He is a little son of a bitch. And they very excitingly said this is based on Grant Morrison’s Batman and Robin Comics, which obviously, for obvious reasons, they couldn’t name it Batman and Robin because of the incredible Joel Schumacher movie Batman and Robin, which, you know, everyone knows I’m a huge fan of. But the Brave in the Boat is a very exciting title for it, because not only are we going to get Damian, Wayne and James said, this is the beginning of the Bat-family, which is very exciting.

 

Jason Concepcion Very exciting.

 

Rosie Knight But not only are we going to get Damian Wayne, who I think is such a beloved Robin, and people are really excited. See him brought to life. But, the fact that they’re calling it the Brave and the Bold makes me think there’s going to be team up elements that we’re going to see some of those weirder characters Brave and the Bold is where you’d see like a music maestro or like some really weird out there villains, especially if you’ve watched the cartoon, which is so great, and in the comics too. So I think this is a very exciting possibility. And also, again, Scott Morrison’s birthday. Thanks for the Grant Morrison Love on Grant Morrison’s birthday. I’m a huge fan of this choice. I want to know, how do you introduce Damien? And build the Bat family from Damian. I love Gotham Academy, so I’d love to see maps like that’s one of my core characters. And you do the younger Bat family. But I think everyone knows the interesting thing here is getting to meet the other previous robins at some point and how you build that in from the ground up of Damian. I think that’s a really interesting storytelling choice. We’ve seen Dick story many, many times. We’ve seen the original Robin. We’ve even gone see Tim Drake now, you know, in the TV stuff. So I think this is a great choice and I can’t I want to see that little sassy kid that they cast. This could be like a hit girl from Kick-Ass. Chloe Moretz Never love. Of course, the vibe to be made, a ten year old who’s going to swear like a sailor, who’s going to chop people’s heads off with a samurai sword and who’s just going to cause Batman. Damian is basically Batman’s karma for all the children that he pulled into his war.

 

Jason Concepcion And by the way, is as he becomes a teenager in an older and a younger, a young man, a true young man continues to cause manner of problems for Bruce Wayne all throughout the years. Then next up, this was kind of a surprise.

 

Rosie Knight And I think this is the most unexpected.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah, this is this is a story that came out like last year.

 

Rosie Knight Literally just finished.

 

Jason Concepcion Tom King and everyone’s favorite former CIA agent who is a comic book creator and Bilquis Everly.

 

Rosie Knight Bilquis’ art, I just I cannot tell you read this book.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah. It’s great.

 

Rosie Knight This Bilquis Everly’s art is unbelievable like many other things that Tom King.

 

Jason Concepcion Sci fi Supergirl it is cool.

 

Rosie Knight Tell you what this is. Tom King pitched DC and he said What if we did True Grit but with Supergirl and Supergirl is not the girl asking for help because her family’s been killed. Though we know her family died on Krypton. In fact, Supergirl is the grizzled old drunk who this young girl is going to ask to take on a quest for revenge. And it is basically narratively true grit. But Matt Lopez, the colorist, and Bilquis Everly, create this swirling cosmos, this absolutely wild space western. And that to me is what I think appeals to Gunn. It’s Guardians of the Galaxy, but R-rated. It’s two women in a Western. It’s the Last of US and the Mandalorian. It’s these lone wolf and cub stories. But here we have them centered around two women. And I cannot tell you like the art in this book, you will not believe it. It begins in a high fantasy planet. So everyone speaks like they’re in Lord of the Rings. There’s all these kind of wild monsters and aliens and Bilquis and Matt bring this visual language to it that is just unlike any other comic. I tire of the the dark twists that Tom King often brings. But I think the Everly and Lopez’s art makes this something that made me really excited when this was on. There is it’s a very interesting take. But I will say this is my one thing. I wrote a piece about this on IGN. Yeah, I’ll say it here. It’s not a spoiler because if you don’t want to about you won’t know. But I’m saying let the super pets live. James Gunn That’s my one change, that’s my one, James. But that’s all I want. Bilquis’ art and let the Super Pets  live.

 

Jason Concepcion And then finally, this project I saw it was greenlit by Rose, by our own Rosie.

 

Rosie Knight It was me.

 

Jason Concepcion Who demanded who demanded that they be included in the first announcement of the DC Slate Fox Swamp Thing is here.

 

Rosie Knight I was actually  outside the Warner Brothers offices every day with the sign.

 

Jason Concepcion Swamp Thing. Swamp Thing.

 

Rosie Knight I have to say a big thank you. This is no joke. Like thank you to everyone who messaged me to say congratulations. This was so funny that I actually had to do a post about it because so many of my friends and so many people listen to the show and so many people who read my work texted me and they were like, and they did me and they were like, Congratulations, You did it like Swamp Thing. You said.

 

Jason Concepcion You did it.

 

Rosie Knight I did a poster. I was like, Thank you for all your congratulations. And my sister texted me and was like, Did I miss something? And I was like, Don’t worry, it’s just a Swamp Thing movie. I’m not writing it, but I feel I feel so close to this movie. I’m very excited. If it was up to me, I would say, Bring back James Wan. I love that Swamp Thing show. I know that’s not going to happen. I am hearing I think James Mangold did a tweet with Swamp Thing and I think people are thinking that’s the way it’s going to go. James James says it’s going to be a very dark horror film about the origins of Swamp Thing. If you don’t know those origins, you.

 

Jason Concepcion Read it.

 

Rosie Knight You’ll love it, You will, you will understand. It’s really, really brilliant, strange, esoteric stuff. You can start with the original language and stuff, or you can skip straight to Saga of Swamp Thing, which is Alan Moore. There’s also a great current swamp, the.

 

Jason Concepcion Iconic, the iconic Alan Moore.

 

Rosie Knight Stop the Swamp, My post. That’s where a lot of the images came from, Rite of Spring and stuff like that. There’s also a great current Swamp Thing run by Ramsey. So I would say I hope that the horror aspect is there, but I hope. It is sprinkled with some of the Gothic romance that I believe is the best thing about.

 

Jason Concepcion That’s the heart, that’s the emotion, the emotional heart of swamp. Because like the monster in the fucking swamp, we’ve seen it.

 

Rosie Knight But he’s the humanity.

 

Jason Concepcion Emotional. Yeah. The heart of Swamp Thing is this longing of the Swamp Thing for the love that he used to have and that he can no longer bequith with.

 

Rosie Knight The yearning that.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah.

 

Rosie Knight Because there’s this very brilliant twist on on Swamp Thing that you won’t see coming when you read the books. Also, I will say I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. Go and watch the Swamp Thing TV show that was originally on DC Universe. I believe it is more than likely on HBO Max. Now it is just absolute dynamite. Krystal Read from from Teen Wolf plays Abby and she is so brilliant and the practical effects are unbelievable. And it is just the most wonderful, lovely, romantic, weird, gothic horror show. And I know we only got one season, but I will always hold it close to my heart. So watch that to prepare. But yes, I also really like the way James Gunn was like, This is extremely different in tone from anything else on the slate. I just want to get it in. Mary and I always kind of have some ready. Yeah, I was like, Please, I’m ready. Well.

 

Jason Concepcion A very exciting announcement. I have to say. You can’t be anything but excited about what James is attempting to do.

 

Rosie Knight Exactly.

 

Jason Concepcion And I think that it’s what has been necessary for a long time. And if they can pull this off, I think the comics, the storytelling space is going to be all the better for.

 

Rosie Knight I totally agree.

 

Jason Concepcion So it’s going to be really fun if he can do it.

 

Rosie Knight I just think it shows the thing we’ve been saying that’s most exciting about James and being in charge of this. These are people who love comics.

 

Jason Concepcion They get it.

 

Rosie Knight They they get this is that this is a line up of someone who has favorite comics that they wanted to adapt to, which we rarely see. So I can’t wait.

 

Jason Concepcion Up next, the mailbag.

 

<AD>.

 

Jason Concepcion We’re stepping out of the airlock and into the X-ray vision crypt, a.k.a. the mailbag, to answer your questions. Here’s one from Mike. Mike asks, The MCU is very global. Currently you have Shang Chi running around in China, you have Layla in Egypt, you have Cameron and Red Dagger in Pakistan, you have Blade in the Eternals in London and Knight all over Europe. What are some other global heroes you’d like to see in the MCU? I have one that instantly leaps to mind, but you tell me, Rosey, who would you like to see?

 

Rosie Knight Okay, well, this is like my dream question, because basically going on to one of when you talk about global characters, the MCU going onto one of mine and Jason’s favorite topics, a.k.a. the X-Men.

 

Jason Concepcion Yes.

 

Rosie Knight So Colossus, you know, I think that’s someone I’d really love to see in the MCU, one of our X-Men faves, you know, the the Russian kind of legend, the huge hunky boy. I love Colossus. I mean, I would love to see Karma, see, talking about like a Vietnamese character. That would be so wonderful. I love Chamber. That’s one of my favorite characters. And he’s from London. I think John Boyega is my dream Chamber casting because I think like the only thing you need about Chamber is that they’re from that. He’s from London. So, you know, that would be a cool Gen-X character. Basically, all of mine are just X-Men characters.

 

Jason Concepcion Wolverine.

 

Rosie Knight He’s from Canada. That’s global. It’s on the globe. You know, I think there’s I think there’s a big space for like, for like a reconsideration and like a re contextualization of, like Sunfire to introduce like the Japanese heroes. Yeah, I would love to see, like, Monet and Penance come in. That would be really cool to have like African characters and also to have more and more weird X-Men characters. And I do think that. I think that Sunsport like a real version of Sunsport, Where you do the Brazilian character whose father is like a wealthy businessman, it opens up all these really interesting spaces into like corporate espionage, the Hellfire Club. But also he has one of the most interesting origin stories, which is essentially like he is a black character who is targeted by racist bullies, and that is when his powers ignite, you know, and his powers are so interesting visually. So, yeah, global characters aka The X-Men introduced them. How about you?

 

Jason Concepcion I mean, all of that is great. I could not I could not avoid thinking about the late eighties nineties era X-Men when they were hanging out in Australia with.

 

Rosie Knight Yes.

 

Jason Concepcion With the Teleporter Gateway. That’s another great one I’d love to see.

 

Rosie Knight I would love that.

 

Jason Concepcion But I’ll tell you one that I think we’re going to I think we’re going to get this is Captain Britain and Excalibur. I think we’re going to get it at some point.

 

Rosie Knight Oh, yeah. That makes so much sense. I mean, with Blade.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah.

 

Rosie Knight With, with, with, you know, Kit Harington, that Black Knight is going to become a character in the MCU. That’s going to be a thing. So I think that makes a lot of sense because you get Captain Britain, you get Excalibur, you can do some of that with supernatural stuff. Okay. So in the comics at the moment, you know, they have this kind of like Betsy Braddock, Captain Britain. Do you think we could see a vision like that or do you think it’s going to be like a more traditional. I think it is.

 

Jason Concepcion I think that’s what they’ll do.

 

Rosie Knight I think they’re seeding.

 

Jason Concepcion And and of course, we can’t forget also in Eastern Europe, our friend Bova in Mount Wundergore.

 

Rosie Knight My darling. My queen, do I might you’re going to. You heard it here first, here’s a cool exclusive. I’m going to get Bova tattoo on this one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I’ll make sure to reveal it. First to the listeners of X-ray Vision.

 

Jason Concepcion Blakeney asks What Marvel DC project are you most excited for? I wish you most worried about whether that’s casting story or other factors. I’ll start. I am. I’m really excited for the James Gunn era of DC. I think he’s done some really wise things early on to kind of cut the cord to. You know, the kind of the more toxic side of the Snyder era.

 

Rosie Knight He’s talked about the divisive nature of the fandom and how he can’t please everyone. I’m excited to see it.

 

Jason Concepcion And I think that’s a person who has proven that they have a track record and a point of view that works in this space. And I’m really excited to see what he’s going to do.

 

Rosie Knight I totally agree. I, I love that this is somebody who loves comics. It’s also someone who had great and public personal growth. I think the Suicide Squad movie that he made is an underrated gem that is just going to age like a fine wine and is one of the most radical superhero movies we’ve ever seen. I love that he came in really hot supporting the Blue Beetle movie, which I’m very excited about. Let’s keep it. DC Because we talk about Marvel a lot. Most worried about. I think I can probably speak for both of us, but it’s the Flash. Yeah, that’s what I’m most worried about. I don’t mean.

 

Jason Concepcion Let us count the ways that we are worried about.

 

Rosie Knight It’s like I’m worried about it in general. I’m interested in what James is going to how they’re going to handle that. I think Safran has made some of the best and had a hand in making some of the best Warner Brothers movies. I love, as everyone knows, I love Aquaman, the most profitable DC movie of all time, by the way. So I’m very excited. I’m excited to see how they handle this very tough challenge of the Flash. Even though I’m worried about the Flash, I think it will be an interesting watermark to see how they’re going to approach it. And I’m hoping because as the reporting has been out there, is that Ben Affleck is no longer going to be in it as Batman, which was kind of reported. He came in because they people didn’t understand why Michael Keaton was there. I’m assuming if you’re James Gunn, you’re probably going to be like, put Michael Keaton back in the Batman. And now that Ben Affleck is is out, he’s going to be involved in maybe directing a movie or something. I just think there’s a lot of interesting options. But I’m really interested because I don’t want to see Ezra as the Flash. Everyone knows that, but I do. I want to I’m most worried about this inclusive young version of the Justice League that had supposedly been saying up with this new Supergirl. I really want to see where that goes and I hope something positive can come out of it. But I still don’t even believe the movie’s coming out this year. That’s the real truth

 

Jason Concepcion I don’t believe it

 

Rosie Knight I can’t see it.

 

Jason Concepcion I don’t believe it either. Andrew asks In the spirit of the Last of US and other lone wolf and Cub style stories, what X-team member would you most trust and least trust to babysit your child, niece, nephew, pets, or loved one? Well, this is easy for me. I think I would. First of all, it’s Wolverine because he’s done it so many times.

 

Rosie Knight Obviously. He is the dad. He will look after the

 

Jason Concepcion He is the dad.

 

Rosie Knight Kid. He will kill everyone for your kid. He’s taken the kid.

 

Jason Concepcion You can’t count how many times he has done this with. You know, Powerpack is probably my favorite version of this one. He’s remember that one when he’s when he’s on the run from the Reevers and Lady Death Strike and he’s like, been reduced to his, like, fearful state because of like how injured he is. And then they come across power pack and then he helps them even though because he’s just, you know, like good to the core, even though he is a hardened killer. I think it would have to be Wolverine. Least trust, I don’t know. Does Mr. Sinister count as an X-Men right now? I mean, you can do it. I think he can do it. I think I mean, like, it was like. It’s like Mutant Nation is really united. And he is an independent.

 

Rosie Knight He would probably do an experiment on your child.

 

Jason Concepcion You say what you what it was. Listen, we’ve seen. 100% he would. And listen, Mr. Sinister is on side. He’s been an important part of the Krakoa era X-Men, obviously. And without him, there would be no resurrection process, you know. So I guess I could count him as an X-Men. And I think so as an X-Men. Mr. Sinister No way. Keep him the fuck away from my pet, loved one, whoever.

 

Rosie Knight Yeah. Okay. So I’m. I agree. Wolverine was my pick. I’m a go controversial, but I believe it is, I do believe it’s fair you know I’d never leave my kid with ever ever ever.  Charles Xavier.

 

Jason Concepcion Oh that’s a good one.

 

Rosie Knight Do not put my child in your baby army. Do not do not send my child to your private school, which I probably pay thousands of dollars for. And then you’re going to put them in the war room? No, thank you. You’re not looking after my child. The child is going to end up in a war. It is going to be bad. Maybe I did you. Maybe. Maybe I’ll let my child come and play baseball. But this it.

 

Jason Concepcion Tthis is without even, like, getting into all the times after saying, Hey, telepaths, you should you by the way, you shouldn’t just go into people’s minds. Don’t do that. He’s my kid, everyone, while he’s done it to everybody. Also, please read everybody’s minds. He’s put mental blocks in everybody’s minds. He’s a very.

 

Rosie Knight Invasive.

 

Jason Concepcion Fucking memory. A million times then. Yeah, he just does.

 

Rosie Knight Well, look, nobody wants to remember this. Even I’m. And this is because. Understandable. It was a bad choice, Stanley. This was a bad choice. But let’s not forget the early in the X-men’s original tenure before the giant size X-Men, which reimagined them. And we all love. Charles Xavier was creeping on Jean Gray. He was saying Jean, you are my student. And this, I’m not leaving my child there.

 

Jason Concepcion This is one of those things. This is one of those moments. It’s like X-Men number six legitimately, where it had a.

 

Rosie Knight I know Jack. I know Jack  was like, don’t do it Stan. Stan was ha, ha, ha, doing the lettering

 

Jason Concepcion This is one of those things that I think we’ve all just agreed to pretend that that never happened.

 

Rosie Knight He’s like, How could I ever tell her that I am in love? Just don’t do it bro

 

Jason Concepcion And so why did this happen? Oh, God. I think that’s happened, by the way. And while we’re on Charles Xavier, you see, I think it’s Immortal X-Men. When the recent Immortal X-Men, where there’s a really cool exchange where Charles is like wondering what would have happened had if him and Magnus had, like, switched power sets, like if he was Magneto and Magneto is Charles Xavier. And he was like, Well, I’ll tell you what 100%. What would have happened is all humans would be dead because and then he goes into like how he, Charles Xavier, could have easily killed him. And he’s like, you know, my power allows me to to to locate mutants. Therefore, I can also locate humans. And it would have just been an easy work of about a decade of planting, you know, subliminal messages in people’s minds, causing them to not eat, kill themselves, whatever. And it would take about ten years. And I could kill every single human on earth.

 

Rosie Knight Yeah, I’m really excited. They’re doing so much good stuff. So speaking of, I’m glad you brought that up, because when you started talking about Mr. Sinister, I was thinking Marvel’s doing a thing called Sins of Sinister and Karen Gillan, Pako Medina. They’re doing a book called Immoral X-Men instead of Immortal X-Men, and it’s like ten years in the future. And the X-Men are loved and adored instead of, you know, hated and feared. So I’m I’m really excited to see where that goes. It’s a great time to be a X-Men fan.

 

Jason Concepcion It really. Is. And I would argue there’s almost been no better time.

 

Rosie Knight Not in our age, that we can really appreciate it. Like, I wish I if I’d have been this age when, you know, New X-Men was coming out, I probably would have felt the same way when I was like 12.

 

Jason Concepcion They’re at the peak of their powers. Kyle asks, Hey, Jason, a Rosie with me. Want to get into comics and X-Men being my fave from the original cartoon. What comic book issue series would you recommend? I start with for further clarification. I’m a black gay man, so obviously I’m obsessed with Storm and I watch the Phoenix and Dark Phoenix saga every three months or so. Rosie, What do you got?

 

Speaker 3 I got it start. So first of all, I’ll just say you love Dark Phenix Saga. Read it. You can get it in a collection. Dark Phenix Saga. It’s great. Some of the best stuff ever. One of the most. Yeah Just absolutely wild stuff wasn’t the way it was supposed to go. But you know what? Some really great X-Men storytelling Days of Future Past. I always say we always say this is a great way to start because it’s a couple of issues. You can read it early too. It’s two issues.

 

Jason Concepcion For the impact that it has in.

 

Rosie Knight Blows my mind.

 

Jason Concepcion Two issues.  Not even like, you couldn’t even call it an arc. It’s really just like part one. Part two.

 

Rosie Knight Yeah, literally. Yes. It’s had so much impact. It’s so iconic, so that unbelievable, you know, cover and it’s just so cool. I read in a chat with Louis Simons and I discovered that she was the one who came up with the idea of the dead. Dead, dead. Like what is really cool stuff. Yeah. And for Storm, This is one of my favorite questions. Basically, we talk about it a lot. You want to go to Uncanny X-Men. There’s a few different things that I’m going to lay out here. There’s an arc that’s just two issues. Again, 172, 173 called To Have and Have Not. And that’s where Storm changes her whole look. You know, where she she she she.

 

Jason Concepcion Classic. Iconic.

 

Rosie Knight Makes kind of friendship. She finds an unexpected friend and just changes her look and Kiki is so angry. Kiki  used to suck. She was always having a bad day. Jewel, which is one of my favorite issues that I actually have, which is X-Men Uncanny X-Men 201.

 

Jason Concepcion Fight Cyclops for the leadership of the X-Men.

 

Rosie Knight That’s one of the best ever. If you love Storm, that’s a great issue.

 

Jason Concepcion And no powers, baby.

 

Rosie Knight No powers

 

Jason Concepcion She did it with no powers

 

Rosie Knight Speaking of no powers. And speaking of no powers, Uncanny X-Men 186, which is Life Death. That is kind of the culmination. And it’s this really interesting story about Storm and Forge and that kind of burgeoning relationship. But it has this unbelievably tragic twist to do with Storm losing her powers. So those would be some great places to start. But as always, uncanny X-Men. You can go to Barnes Noble’s and they sell little digests of these that are really small, like an Archie. You can buy these and trade, you can get them online, you can go to your library and read them. But Kyle, I’m so glad you sent this question because we love Storm. I truly believe Storm. I believe she is the way in to the X-Men. I think she’s your premiere X-Men character for 2023 MCU. I have one.

 

Jason Concepcion I have one more to add to Storm is kind of like weirdly sidelined in this one, but she’s also like the motivating factor. You’re in it. And it’s just one of my favorite stories. Still in in mutant lore, certainly of the Claremont era. It’s there. It’s collected in a graphic novel edition called The Asgardian Warriors, which collects the X-Men in Alpha Alpha Flight one and to New Mutants, Special Edition and X-Men Annual Number nine. And the basic Just as this, the New Mutants get sucked into a conflict in Asgard because of the machinations of Loki and the Enchantress. And Storm gets wrapped in it, too. And then the X-Men, not knowing what’s happened to their their charges. The new Mutants then has to charge into Asgard to try and get them out. And it’s.

 

Rosie Knight One epic showdown.

 

Jason Concepcion It’s like Art Adams at his absolute peak of his fucking powers.

 

Rosie Knight I love Art Adams.

 

Jason Concepcion Incredible super adventure, Unbelievable art. Great story. It’s just a great one. One of the all time greats from the X-Men.

 

Rosie Knight Yeah. So Matt is asking the question. I’m going to preempt this question by saying thank you, because me and Jason talked about this all the time, and I know it’s one of our favorite topics. So yeah, let’s let’s lay out in a more concrete way. Matt asks, I know that the MCU is influenced by some changes in the comics as far as character art and some storylines, etc.. Do you think as the comics and the MCU develop in tandem that comics will start being written in such a way that intends to become part of the MCU? Would that be a world in which a specific storyline or comic is written with the intent of being the groundwork in which they become MCU canon? I’m just going to start quickly by saying I truly am of the belief that they’re already doing this.

 

Jason Concepcion I think it’s already there. Yeah, I think they already do it. I don’t think it’s a 1 to 1. No, I think what they do is they treat I think they treat the comics as a very, very active, like research and development for the movies, seeing what works, what kind of like fun adventures people could go into the characters.

 

Rosie Knight What characters they’re going to highlight.

 

Jason Concepcion Yes, certainly. Like, I think they’re very strategic in terms of what characters are going to appear in the movies. You start seeing one shots and different things happen in the MCU. And we mentioned we mentioned all the time the kind of like aborted attempt to raise the Inhumans to the level of.

 

Rosie Knight Exactly. Exactly. That’s a great early example.

 

Jason Concepcion Tthat was, that was a direct attempt to fill in for the X-Men who at the time Disney didn’t own the IP and by replacing them with Inhumans. So I think you’re exactly right. They do it already. Already not not in it, not with a direct connection. But I think they they’re clearly very strategic about the comics stories. They release, the characters who they spotlight, etc., etc..

 

Rosie Knight I think they see the comics as almost like a a way to introduce ideas and characters back into the the mindset of the fans. Think about a wonderful number one best Bud Cody Ziglar and Spider Punk. Cody’s been absolutely smashing it, reintroducing spider punk to people. And then we find out Spider is going to be in the new Into the Spider.

 

Jason Concepcion Cody’s in a lot,  you knew that is going to happen.

 

Rosie Knight So it’s those little things that we can get seeding that’s my thing. Yeah they are they seeding something in the comics to the MCU. Eve Ewing, another incredible friend of the pod. Yeah. Wow. We’re so lucky.

 

Jason Concepcion We are.

 

Rosie Knight Eve has a brilliant new Monica Rambeau photon. It’s not a coincidence that Monica is highlighted in the book with that title Photon right now before the Marvels. So these things are there. Now, what I think is interesting is Kevin Feige is in charge of like publishing operations, I believe, now. So what I will be interested to see is will there be a world where it’s less about seeding and hinting? And will there be a world where there’s an MCU line of comics or there’s a direct, more textural connection? That’s what I think the next evolution could be, and I’d be very interested to see if that happened.

 

Jason Concepcion X ray vision will be back. And we’re back. Jacob asks, With James Gunn taking over DC and with a younger Superman, is it officially new 52 time now? Okay, for those not versed.

 

Rosie Knight Contraversial.

 

Jason Concepcion It is DC Comics, so both Marvel and DC around the same time. I want to say like six or seven years ago.

 

Rosie Knight No, we’re old. It was in 2011.

 

Jason Concepcion Oh my God. Jesus, so 12.

 

Rosie Knight I know. It’s terrific

 

Jason Concepcion 12 years ago rebooted their entire line in Marvel. It was called Heroes Reborn in DC. It was called the New 52. Basically, all the 52 titles were rebooted and started fresh.

 

Rosie Knight They stripped down everything and relaunched with only 52 titles. Look, it is one of the most influential for all its controversy. It’s one of the most influential comic book situations of all time follows the conclusion of Flashpoint, which obviously is now like such an influential thing. It out of it. There are so many books that people love and choices and characters were completely reimagined, but it was very controversial as all kind of line wide reboots. The most.

 

Jason Concepcion Always.

 

Rosie Knight As you know, the Marvel opened up Marvel now, which is some of my favorite stuff, Young Avengers, Ms.. Marvel, all that stuff. DC This was really like. It was really a soup. It’s hard to express how much of a big deal it was.

 

Jason Concepcion It was a huge deal and it would happen. And like like many DC events, it was an attempt to kind of streamline the the kind of just very, very overgrown, overlapping and automated contradictory lawyer for people to jump on.

 

Rosie Knight Jjust easier for people to jump on. It’s always about jump jumping on point.

 

Jason Concepcion And I’ll tell you what I did jump on and I enjoyed it. I thought it was great. I had a good time with it.

 

Rosie Knight Would we? Now I’m very interested, this is a great point. I don’t necessarily know if Young Superman hints at kind of New 52, but James Gunn has recently been reading Grant Morrison’s Batman and Robin. I do think this is an era where Jim Lee is like such a huge icon who was such a big part of the new 52 kind of era. And and I do think we could be seeing. People looking back to this almost as, like we said, you know, 12 years ago, this is historical now. This is kind of like people in when they were making the 2000 X-Men movie. Looking back to the eight years like we’re really you know, I think New 52 could be a touch point. I don’t ever think they’re going to say it’s directly inspired by the new 52, because I do think it’s so controversial. But I do think that already, for example, not necessarily like the greatest example, but the fact to say this is point in proof that people are looking at the version of black Adam and the comics they were drawing from was very directly from the New 52. Shazam, that which I love. And I’m really excited for the next one, that New 52. So we’re already seeing characters seeded in the previous DCU Flashpoint 952 prior to, but around the same time I think that there’s a version where the new 52 is incredibly influential on this. But I will also say James Gunn is a stone cold weirdo, like us. And so I think we’re also going to be in some weird, more deep cut. You know, I could imagine him doing like a Batman Inc., you know.

 

Jason Concepcion That would be cool.

 

Rosie Knight That kind of stuff. So, yeah, I’m very interested to see where it goes. But will we ever see a movie called New 52 or an allusion to it? I don’t know. It would be a brave it would be a bold move.

 

Jason Concepcion I will say it in terms of broad storylines. It’s kind of a natural starting point, if you want to put it in terms of where to start stories and.

 

Rosie Knight Contemporary stories.

 

Jason Concepcion And contemporary stories that are grounded in today’s world, not like with, you know, Superman appearing in the fucking Sixties or some shit like that. So I think it I think it makes a lot of sense, maybe not as a 1 to 1 adaptation, but a kind of spiritual adaptation to say, okay, new ownership. Anthony, a new creative direction. We’re going to new 50 to this film universe. I think that actually does make sense.

 

Rosie Knight People within DC and Warner Brothers may be using that phrase as you just use that. Yes, I believe it. Okay. Tyrannosaurus Gregg asks a wonderful, truly, wonderful question. Would you want a Star Wars What if animated series?

 

Jason Concepcion Wow.

 

Rosie Knight And if so, what would you want the first season to be like? What would some ideas be of stories that you would want to see?

 

Jason Concepcion Anakin kills Palpatine right away and becomes emperor.

 

Rosie Knight Oh, I love that. Okay, mine would, because one of my first ones is like the it’s like the the coin flip of that, which is what if PADMÉ never died? Oh, wow. Yeah, I’d love that. Those two would be so good. What if. What if Anakin killed Palpatine? And what if PADMÉ never died? I’d like to see both.

 

Jason Concepcion That would be really cool. Yeah. And underin my imagination. Anakin kills Palpatine. He gets his kids and he raises them as dark Siths.

 

Rosie Knight I love that.

 

Jason Concepcion While ruling the galaxy.

 

Rosie Knight That is so cool.

 

Jason Concepcion With hatred and fear in his heart.

 

Rosie Knight I think that’s the most exciting thing about What If. One, imagine if they came out with this static sensibilities of visions. So it looks different, but there’s so many options. Obviously, I’m old school. I’m like an old head. I’m an old person. So like, my first thought was like, what if Layer and Han’s kids were Jaina Solo and Jason Solo and you have the legend stuff, and instead of Ben being kind of a Jason, you actually get to see that Legends Canon brought to life in a more contemporary way. I would also be like, What if Finn and Poe fell in love? Like, why not do its animation? Like, let us have fun? I think that’s the power of what is. You can do so much. You could do the smallest little story. And then you could do like the most expansive, huge can and changing moments like this idea of Anakin. And I love that him raising the kids like that. Getting to see a real dark Luke.

 

Jason Concepcion I mean, what if Obi Wan didn’t die on the dath star?

 

Rosie Knight Oh, imagine you could have a lot of fun. Well, you know another legends. What I’d do. Like what if Luke met Mara Jade? Just so we could see. So we could see Mara Jade? Yeah. I mean, there’s so. There’s so many incredible ones. I love that. What if Obi Wan didn’t die? I mean. That you could do ten seasons of Star of Star Wars what ifs.

 

Jason Concepcion You really could. You know, if there was. And there is. Well, that’s fair to say. There is no I was about to say there is no kind of like multiverse kind of effect in Star Wars. But then I remembered. Rebels, The World Between Worlds are.

 

Rosie Knight Oh my God.

 

Jason Concepcion One of the best TV shows of all time. Like, let’s put a pin in that. Maybe there is, but God, that would be really fun. That’s a really cool idea. Tyrannosaurus Greg.

 

Rosie Knight Yeah. Tyrannosaurus Greg, Get Disney to pay you for that one, because that’s that’s primo.

 

Jason Concepcion Isabelle Thunderwood asks how much of Maarva’s funeral procession, this is from Andor, going early was a communal coordinated effort to support cast rescuing pics. Did Peg Land Cast agree to meet the shipyard and set that escape up? Or how much was an expression of how individual spiritually aligned will ultimately cross paths and entwine? I think the way I read it was it wasn’t a conscious effort on anybody’s part, but it was. And I think this is supported by the themes of the story and the things that we saw. I think it was an expression of people were at their breaking point. They were fed up. A beloved member of their community had been had had been hounded to her death, you know, and many members of their community had been oppressed, imprisoned and.

 

Rosie Knight Killed, as she said, so many people.

 

Jason Concepcion And whether or not it was a conscious effort to cause a distraction for four and or to rescue pets, which I don’t believe. I think what it was, was people were just had had enough people were just had had enough and they were ready. They were like sticking their chin out, hoping that the empire would take a swing because they had just had enough and they were ready to fight at that point in time.

 

Rosie Knight I love that. And actually, Elizabeth feels like the way that she posed this question actually just made me have a thought as well. We talked a lot about how the force is not really something we see in action in a way that we understand it. No one’s lifting rocks, you know, no one’s doing but. I kind of love this idea of some kind of almost like unconscious solidarity where everyone in the force was allowing these things to happen.

 

Jason Concepcion I like that, too.

 

Rosie Knight In these moments, because, like you said, everyone was aligned. They knew what they wanted. They were at their breaking point and the right thing to bring balance to the universe. To bring balance to the force, to bring balance to Ferrix was for this to happen. So I really love that. I love thinking about that kind of stuff because the show seems so grounded, but we know what wild that exists in. So I love the idea. It’s like, yeah, that was no, no one was there with blueprints. No one was like texting each other. This was somebody this was that connection of people at their last moment. And maybe there was something a little bit more that allowed every little thing to happen as it did. But yeah, well, what a great question. What a great show it was, given that it was kind of just thinking about it.

 

Jason Concepcion There’s also something Shakespearean about it, you know, like Julius Caesar. How. How Mark Antony and Brutus make their speeches. And Brutus goes first basically saying, you know, I love Sidney is a great guy, but, you know, hey, it’s he got a little too big in the head. And unfortunately, we had to take him down and then Mark Antony. Does this emotional appeal appeal at just the right time, pointing out the kind of incongruities between what Brutus said in the way Julius Caesar had acted towards the people who were who he was beloved of? And I think that there’s something of that in this funeral procession, in particular, how his speech appears. At the perfect time when everybody is at that emotional tear to go over the edge and do whatever and just act out. There was no you know, there was no like and then we’ll overthrow the empire and then we’ll storm the gate. It was just like, Fuck these guys. Yeah, we’ve had enough. And when Marva basically gave them the okay that, like, it’s okay to fight for freedom, it’s okay to do what’s right. I’m paraphrasing, you know, And I think that message showed up at just the right time. And yeah, I think to your point, maybe something else was at play there.

 

Rosie Knight Yeah.

 

Jason Concepcion Sheboygan asks, How much of a shot do you give everything everywhere all at once of taking home best picture at the Oscars? I give it like zero chance, but I was delighted to see it. I think it’s very clear to me from the movies that were nominated that one of the things the Oscars are trying desperately to do is to elevate movies that were.

 

Rosie Knight Popular.

 

Jason Concepcion Popular.

 

Rosie Knight Yeah. I mean, this is I will say the thing that’s kind of blew my mind is that this is probably one of the first times where those two of the biggest movies of the year and of all time in the Best picture, Top Gun and Avatar, notably not on years when they didn’t nominate those on years when it was superior movies. But you know, they got a thing about genre. But so I think you’re right. I would love to see it take best picture. I think it’s a long shot. But I do think the Daniels for best director is. I think they might. I think they’ll probably get that and screenplay, but not best picture. But I think that’s right. I think they’re going to I think they have a good chance of sweeping the acting norms. And I think Ki Huy Quan is a I think that’s a shoo in.

 

Jason Concepcion I think that’s a shoo in to. I think it’s going to be. I just can’t imagine Top Gun Maverick winning best picture.

 

Rosie Knight No way. I think it’s going to give me The Fablemans something.

 

Jason Concepcion I think it’s going to be All Quiet on the Western Front. It’s a it’s a classic war movie, which the Academy loves. And it’s coming at the right time.

 

Rosie Knight And it’s on Netflix. People. But it’s Yeah.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah, it’s fine. And, you know, I think it’ll be that Elvis is too weird. Banshees of Inisherin was good, but I can’t imagine, too small as well.

 

Rosie Knight I think Austin Butler does have a good chance for Elvis. I think I never expected it, but I think not. So yeah, it’s such a it’s such a wild year, but 11 nominations for everything I’ve read all at once, By the way, as much as I’ve listened to the chat that we had with the Daniels and and and just send them some good vibes because they were freaked out.

 

Speaker 2 They deserve it.

 

Rosie Knight A year ago when this movie was a hit and now it has 11 nominations. And I’m sure they’re stressed.

 

Jason Concepcion And by the way, shouts to Austin Butler of Wizards of Waverly Place fame.

 

Rosie Knight Yes. Wizards of Waverly Place.

 

Jason Concepcion What a come up by my guy.

 

Rosie Knight I love that. See.

 

Jason Concepcion Max, if you had Amazon level money to throw at the on screen adaptation of your choice, be it book series, comic run or remake of an old movie or show, what would it be? Personally, I choose Robin Hobbs, Realm of the Elderling’s books. Oh gosh. What would you what would you do?

 

Rosie Knight This is like such a hard question. For years, my answer would have been, you know, Love and Rockets, which everyone knows one of my all time favorite comic books. But I truly do believe as I as I grow older, I believe that is in it’s already in the best form it will ever be in, which is as a comic book. So I’m taking it off. So I’m going to say this is a newer book I love to shout out. If you listen to the podcast, you’ve had it here before, but there is a manga by Kamome Shirahama called Witch Hat Atalier. It’s like if the most beautiful, intricate manga story about magic was drawn by somebody who loved all atoms. And it’s about a young girl who wants to learn magic and uncovers the secret of magic accidentally in a world where only some people know it and has to go and study, it is honestly one of the best comics I’ve ever read in my whole life. There’s about nine. I think the 10th book just came out. I think they are making an anime, but I would love to see like $1,000,000,000 adaptation of that book brought to life in a way that could represent the the beauty of the art and the kind of mad, cozy magic of the storytelling. What would yours be?

 

Jason Concepcion Gosh, it’s really hard.

 

Rosie Knight Right? It’s like.

 

Jason Concepcion But I gosh, I’m going to pick a book that I just read. The Black Tongue Thief by Christopher Billman. Now there’s only one. The one story was published in 2021, so there’s only the one book, and it’s unclear if he will ever like go back to the world. But it is a book that like really knocked me out and it has like such a fully realized fun world involving magic, but magic that is tightly controlled by guilds. And these guilds are corrupt and it’s unclear how far their influence actually runs and whether they are behind the scenes pulling the strings of different things that are happening. This story takes place in the kind of aftermath of these long running and devastating wars against goblins that ended that devastated humanity, basically caused all horses to go extinct. Many other it caused various other plagues and humanity’s just kind of getting on its feet. And as that is happening, one of the cities on the periphery is attacked by giants. Now, important fact is this is a city that had kind of ejected the Takers Guild, which is the Guild of Thieves and the and the Magicians Guild from their territories, meaning it was guild free. So you could be an independent magician or an independent thief working there, but you couldn’t there’s no guild activities there. So what does this mean? Who is doing this? And it’s all told from the perspective of this thief named Kanchana Schnack, who is just a wonderful, unreliable narrator. It’s like just like.

 

Rosie Knight I love a good unreliable narrator

 

Jason Concepcion It’s just a  really, really gripping and swashbuckling read that is is is really, really fun and wonderful. And some of the best use of of magic of that I’ve read lately is great.

 

Rosie Knight Sounds amazing. In today’s nerd out what you tell us what you love and why. Or a theory that you’re excited to share. Sarah pitches us on the beloved tabletop RPG Dungeons and Dragons. Fun fact Crooked Media started its own Dungeons and Dragons campaign recently, which includes super producer Saul, which means when the Dungeons and Dragons movie comes out, Saul is going to have to come on and talk about it.

 

Sarah Hi, I’m Sarah and I’m here to pitch you on Dungeons and Dragons. It may seem like everyone knows about Dee Dee these days, but I’m a woman in my thirties and it was only in my thirties that I first discovered it. Shout out to my sister. If you’re unfamiliar with the game, it’s a multi-player role playing game which focuses on teamwork and storytelling. You play as the singular character with a fantasy race like an elf in class, like a wizard who teams up with an unlikely band of heroes and faces challenges from paying the bar tab, displaying dragons. You can embody absolutely any character you like, exploring different genders and identities and form lifelong bonds with the other players. It’s an absolute feast for creativity, allowing you to build genuinely transferrable problem solving skills and quick thinking. Empathy, daring and math are just a few things you can learn at a dandy table as a woman in my thirties. I found today’s players to be a welcoming and inclusive group, and I would encourage anyone who is sitting on the fence to give it a try. If you’re looking for content to get you into it, the juggernaut is a critical role for good reason, but some other great content is not. Another Dan D podcast, The Adventure Zone Podcast, Rude Tales of Magic Podcast and Dimension 20. I hope you find boundless excitement and entertainment within the many worlds of Dandy.

 

Rosie Knight Thank you, Sarah. If you have theories or passions, you want to share an x ray at Crooked.com/subscribe. Instructions, as always, are in the show notes.

 

Jason Concepcion That’s it for us, Rosie. Any plugs?

 

Rosie Knight Yeah. You can find me Rosie Marx on Letterboxd and Instagram. You will be able to read some of my store stories about these things that we’re talking about over at IGN about a couple of these big DC news. I’m going to have some other cool stuff coming out soon, and obviously Ant-Man is coming up, baby, so get ready for those Anti takes. There’s going to be ants.

 

Jason Concepcion Next episode is Wednesday, February 8th. For more of the Last of US, remember two episodes a week now, two episodes, week, Wednesdays and Fridays in your ear holes.

 

Rosie Knight And if you want to hear those things in your air holes and see them through your eye holes, subscribe on YouTube where you can now watch full episodes of the show. You may even see me and Jason in the studio looking so dashing in our brightly colored clothes and cool t shirt. Please follow us XRVPod on Twitter, where we’re always sharing cool stuff and responding to our wonderful listeners. And speaking of wonderful listeners. Check out Our Discord is such a cool community. I didn’t have this experience before this, but it’s lovely. We got all kinds of different cool spaces, lots of funny interactions, theories, thoughts and that just generally good stuff.

 

Jason Concepcion And if you’re a fan of The Last of US and are wondering what we could do to possibly make you join the Discord. We’re doing really cool giveaway in the Discord for Discord members. It’s the Last of US Activation Pack, Last of US branded gear, including a backpack, including a Carhartt jacket and more. Join the Discord to find out about it will be doing the draw for who gets that really cool Last of US Activation Pack. Next week, five star ratings, five five.

 

Rosie Knight Five stars give them to us. We need them.

 

Jason Concepcion Five. Five. Five. We need them. We gotta have them. Here’s KarenX five stars only. That’s right, Karen. It was either that or no stars, Jason said. Didn’t leave me much of a choice. Listen.

 

Rosie Knight Thank you for following the rules.

 

Jason Concepcion I didn’t force you to do it for you. We appreciate it. X-ray Vision is a Crooked Media production. The show is produced by Chris Lord and Saul Rubin. The show is executive produced by myself and Sandy Girard. Our editing and sound design is by the Vasilis Fotopoulos. Delon Villanueva and Matt DeGroot provide video production support. Alex Reliford handles social media. Thank you Brian Vasquez for our theme music. That’s it for us. See you next time.